Unlikely Fate
by Lady in the Willows
Summary: When a business deal takes an unexpected turn, Josef Konstantin finds himself involved with a human female he can't buy or impress. The only thing more annoying than the opinionated Emmaline Bradford are the feelings building up inside his heart.
1. Prologue: The Deal

Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight.

**Unlikely Fate**

Prologue: The Deal

For several decades Mick St. John had been listening to stories. That was a private investigator's job, in essence. He listened to stories then found out how they ended. After a certain number of years he thought he had heard most everything. Leave it to his best friend to surprise him.

The file on his desk was standard manila but the contents were a little more out of the ordinary. There were pages of information that ranged from date of birth to favorite color. Then there were the pictures. A few family portraits, a few with just one person and several shots where the person being photographed was completely oblivious to the presence of the camera.

"Emmaline Bradford," Mick read out before looking up at Josef Konstantin. "And you're supposed to date her?"

"I believe it went more along the lines of 'woo, wed and bed,'" he corrected without removing his attention from the glass of blood in his hand. That had been the first thing he'd asked for when he came through the door. No matter that it was practically non-fat vegan blood; he'd needed something to steady his nerves. After four hundred years, Josef was even more unused to surprises than Mick. He had no taste for them.

"I think she's a little too human for you, Josef," his friend remarked, studying Miss Bradford's photos. She wasn't the older vampire's type. For one, she wasn't a stunning, perfectly curved model. Admittedly she was tall enough at 5'9" but her modestly endowed chest and the slight curve to her hips made her look more like a fairy girl than a desirable woman. She had black hair most people would consider unmanageably long and moss green eyes. Mick couldn't say she was unattractive. There was a dignified quality that canceled out her awkward proportions. Maybe it was in her high cheek bones, smooth skin and small mouth. Whatever it was, it wasn't for Josef.

"You won't hear me disagree with you," he told him, taking another long gulp of blood. "She's nearly thirty, in case you haven't read that part yet."

"I read it. What I'm trying to understand is why her father is so eager for you to marry her."

"They're estranged," Josef explained, the dramatic roll of his eyes indicating that he honestly didn't give a damn. "Since I've been looking to merge our two companies, he's checked into my background. He liked everything he heard with the exception of my personal life. Apparently he doesn't want – how did he put it? – a playboy fiddling with his life's work." Mick didn't hide his smirk. If Mr. Bradford knew the truth about Josef, having a personal harem would seem like a minor sin.

"So he offers up his daughter?"

"I haven't finished," he pointed out. "He knows as well as I do that this merger will be very profitable. Sadly, he's already rich and can afford to screw with me. What he wants out of this deal is his daughter. He thinks that if she has to socialize with him at business dinners and parties that she'll eventually come around and forgive him for whatever crime he committed against her."

"Probably doesn't hurt that you're known as one of the sharpest businessmen in the country and having his daughter married to you would provide certain benefits," Mick noted dryly. Josef gave him a knowing smile.

"I think that might have factored into the plan."

"And Emmaline? How does she come into it besides the obvious way?"

"She doesn't. She's most definitely a pawn in this particular game," Josef said, setting down his empty glass. It was the thoughtful look in his eyes that made Mick realize this wasn't just a crazy story.

"Are you actually thinking about doing this?" Josef shrugged.

"It would be a challenge. I haven't had one of those in a while and I try to schedule at least one in every twenty years or so." Mick looked back down at the file and Emmaline's intelligent eyes stared back at him.

"So you're going to what? Seduce a complete stranger?"

"Not a stranger. I already have her profile," Josef reminded him.

"And it's been how many years since you've dated?" Mick asked. "I mean real dating, not seducing a woman with power." The vampire looked at him in a way that made Mick wonder if he'd been speaking some other language for the last thirty seconds. To Josef, humans were easy to understand. They were most often motivated by money and emotion, women especially. The weaker ones were especially prone to gravitating toward power with the hope that it would protect them. Since Mr. Bradford hadn't struck him as a very strong character, he doubted his daughter would be much different.

"Nice to get your opinion on the subject but I'd better go. She closes up shop in about twenty minutes and I'd like a look at her three dimensional self." Josef stood up and strolled toward the door, leaving the file behind because he doubted he'd need it. "By the way, Mick, I think you're overestimating Miss Bradford." A few minutes after his friend had left, he closed her file and let the smile that had been nagging at him finally creep out. He had a feeling that it was Josef was in for yet another surprise.


	2. The Woman

Chapter One: The Woman

Emmaline was having a weird day. Instead of focusing on her work she kept zoning out, coming back to reality with a ruined lump of clay in her hands. Her mother used to call days like that dreamy days. _When your head won't sit still on your shoulders no matter how hard you try, that's a dreamy day. _The description was spot on.

"The lettuce is starting to look a little bit iffy. I'll just pick up some more at the nearest Vons, okay Em? Em?" She blinked a few times and looked up Sheryl.

"Sorry, Sheryl, I sort of lost focus for a minute. What about lettuce?" Sheryl paused for a moment then sat down next to Emma on the work bench. She'd gotten that concerned look on her face that meant she was about to give a lecture. Emma could already predict what it would be about.

"Brendon's wondering why you've stopped calling him. I told him you were just overworked but he won't buy it for long. So what you've got to do is get over your own insecurities and deal with the fact that he likes you as more than a friend. Who knows? Maybe you'll have a beautiful romance, a gorgeous wedding and more children than you ever wanted." She patted her friend's hand and stood up. "Now you lock up, go home, take a long bath and think about what I said."

"Yes, Doctor Sheryl," Emma said obediently in a little girl voice. Sheryl rolled her eyes.

"Good night, smart ass." That was their relationship in a nutshell. Sheryl told Emma what she didn't want to hear and Emma amused her. As she walked out the door Emma couldn't help but admire how being rich hadn't gone to her head. Unlike her, Sheryl didn't have to work there. She just did it to amuse herself and use up her free time. Sheryl was one of those elegant beauties with perfectly curled blonde hair and big blue eyes. Emma was well aware that she didn't hold a candle to her friend's looks. The fact suited her. Beauty like that often attracted men and relationships with men scared her half to death. That had to do with the fact that her relationship with my father was a wreck that could never be fixed. God only knew what she'd do to her next male/female relationship.

The situation with Brendon was a disaster in the making. They'd been good friends for three years then out of the blue, at least it was to her, he confessed how much he cared about her. White-picket-fence-and-2.5-children care. Emma had been avoiding him since that. In her eyes their friendship was ruined. She couldn't look at him as the guy she could pal around with anymore. Now he was the guy who wanted to marry her and take her away from all her problems. The difficulty there was that she really liked her problems. They were _hers_, just like the shop was hers.

Clay Café was the result of her sweat, tears and some very humiliating loans from her friends. Loans that were just about paid off by now. Emma left the work room and moved into the public areas. Half pottery center and half café, her place was unique. People came there to try their hand at ceramics but more often to enjoy the strictly fresh food and beverages. Sandwiches, salads, soups, anything light and simple. That had been her dream for a long time: to create a place where people would come and feel lighter of spirit.

Her beaten tennis shoes didn't make much sound against the white tile. It was easier to clean the floors when it was all white. The dirt became really obvious. The walls were painted a light but rich green, light fixtures glowing warmly against the colors. Emma passed the blackboard with that day's specials written in Sheryl's off-beat calligraphy. The counters where food was prepared were sparkling, as they always were. She knew that Sheryl would never leave her work space dirty but she liked to double check. These closing time rituals weren't necessary. It aided her stress level, lowering it to a reasonable amount. Seeing her dreams perfect and real also brought her satisfaction. This was her work, what she'd given up a great deal to have. And it was blossoming.

She shrugged into her coat, scooped up a box of newly created plates that needed a few decorative designs before they went to their soon-to-be owners and set the alarms before leaving. Then she locked the door, a tiny thing that always made her heart beat a touch faster, while balancing the box on her hip. Almost immediately she got the feeling that she was being watched.

Josef wasn't sure what to think of her. The self-possessed woman in a plaid shirt and clay-smeared jeans was not what he had pictures in his mind. Emmaline Bradford, the daughter of an extremely successful businessman, appeared thoroughly middle class. And strangely charming.

Thanks to his excellent vision, he could make out every detail of her face from across the street. The photos hadn't caught the animation there, the life. She still wasn't beautiful, at least not in the modern sense of the word. Very human, flawed but unique. When she fumbled with the box and her heart rate arched up in panic, Josef crossed the street faster than the human eye could track. To Emma it was as if his hand was just there, steadying her grip on the box.

"Careful with that," he said, staring straight into her eyes and watching the subtle changes. From surprise to a subtle sense of relief tinged with curiosity, her face showed each shift in emotion. Especially her eyes. He'd always thought the phrase 'windows to the soul' was a trite bit of poetry but with her it applied.

"Thanks." She didn't know what to think. One minute she was alone and the next she was caught in the dark eyes of a stranger. Emma tried to take in the rest of him, finding it harder to break eye contact than it should have been. He was handsome, this unexpected knight in shining armor. Pale, smooth and dark in some indescribable way. She began gathering her frayed senses, pulling herself back under control. He was several inches taller, hair far shorter and brown. Then she picked up on that sense of aristocracy, higher class. It set her on edge. "I could have handled it." One of those fine eyebrows arched upward and she grit her teeth.

"Perhaps. You have to admit it was easier with an extra hand." Emma frowned at him and shoved her keys into her pocket a little more aggressively than she usually did.

"I don't have to admit anything." She stepped around him, noting with disdain his expensive suit and the sports car parked across the street that was probably his. Rich, arrogant, the type she'd been brought up with and wanted to get far away from.

Josef watched the sway of her hips, the thick braid of hair moving with the rhythm. He caught her scent as she passed by him. Clay was the most obvious, followed closely by soap. What surprised him was the hint of citrus. "Grapefruit," he murmured. Emma looked over her shoulder, those expressive eyes narrowed in question.

"What?"

"Your hair," he explained with the hint of a smile. "It smells of grapefruit." Emma moved back another step. He was right and it was seriously weird of him to notice something like that. She could barely smell the bit of scent her shampoo left in her hair most times. How had he?

"Good guess," she mumbled. Her pace increased fractionally. Emma was determined to get to her car before any other weird things started happening. Josef observed her retreat towards a Chevy truck that looked like it should have been enjoying its retirement in a junk yard somewhere. He was trying to remember the last time a human woman had brushed him off. It had to have been at least a hundred years if not more. Perhaps Mick had had a point about dating.

With a mind to get his evening feed, preferably from a freshie with dark hair and green eyes, he returned to his car. Emma turned the keys in her ignition, the faithful old engine sputtering to life. As long as she didn't push it over sixty the car would be just fine. The man and his overpriced car took off down the road and out of her life. At least, that's what she was hoping. But when was the last time Fate took her hopes into account?


	3. The Background

Chapter Two: The Background

Part of being a best friend was listening to sometimes unreasonable rants and nodding agreeably to everything the other person is saying. Once they've cooled down, you could talk a little sense to them. Mick was waiting for that part.

"How in the hell did that woman come out of the Bradford household with that kind of attitude?" Josef muttered, finally taking a seat on Mick's couch. About time, too. His tile floor would probably be worn down by all Josef's pacing.

"Well, if you'd read her file, you might know a little more about her," Mick pointed out. Josef glared at him.

"I did read it."

"More like skimmed," he corrected. "You missed a lot of important information." Josef reclined a little further, folding his arms across his chest.

"Want to share with the rest of the class?" Mick stood up and went to his kitchen. It was pristine, mostly because he never did anything in it. Being a vampire had removed the necessity of eating. Instead he used it for storing blood.

Night had lapsed into early morning. Both he and Josef would be needing some refreshment to stay talking and out of their separate freezers. "Did you think she was much like her father?"

"Besides the eye color, not at all. And even that wasn't exactly the same." No, those eyes were unique. Gentle, intriguing and sometimes sharp as an executioner's blade.

"And skin color," Mick informed him, walking back into what could be termed a living room. Since there weren't any walls separating the rooms on the first floor of his apartment it was difficult to separate one from another. It had a modern style which fit a man who was trying to block out the past.

"Skin color?" Josef asked. He accepted the glass of blood and took a sip. His craving began to ebb.

"Her mother's skin was darker. She was Italian, a dancer by the name of Marina Butera." It was beginning to sink in to Josef just why Emma hadn't warmed up to him like any well-bred girl would.

"Not a socialite, then. That would be a difference. And may I ask why you know all this?" Mick shifted awkwardly.

"I don't have any cases to work on at the moment. Besides, her file was an interesting read." Josef looked skeptical but remained silent. His friend's interest in information was working to his benefit. "Anyway, her parents married young. It's the usual story. While the husband gains more success, his wife is neglected. Then they have a child and she has a reason to stick around."

"Somehow I don't think Bradford had that included in Emmaline's file," Josef said, licking a drop of blood away from his upper lip. Mick shrugged.

"A little speculation on my part. It lines up with what we know about her. But since you want facts, here's one that might interest you. Her mother died a little over four years ago. Soon after that her daughter cut off all contact with Kurt Bradford." It did interest him. He straightened up, eyes sharpening.

"So this separation is more serious than he let on. He made it seem like a temper tantrum carried too far."

"Seeing as she started her own business with practically nothing and paid off the loans in less than two years, I don't think she's quite that childish." Mick smiled guiltily. "I did some digging of my own. Clay Café rakes in a tidy profit, doing better all the time." Josef processed that. So his lady fair knew how to run a business or at least knew how to create a desirable product.

"Any other useful information?"

"Her school record," Mick said, thinking back to the neat columns of grades. "Straight As with the exception of math and science. One of her longest and most complimentary college recommendation letters was from her art teacher. The words 'incredibly skilled' and 'fantastic potential' came up."

"So she's an artist running a café?" Josef asked. Mick tried not to roll his eyes.

"Not just a café, Josef. You can get food there but you can also create your own pots or order one of hers, although she sells a lot more than pots. Vases, sculptures, you name it and she'll probably do it."

"Creative," he said thoughtfully. That explained the box of pottery and the smell of clay hugging so close to her skin. "Creative and independent."

"And not for sale," Mick added. "Maybe you should let this deal go, Josef. Stick to your uncomplicated freshies."

"You honestly don't think I can handle her?"

"You didn't do so well last time," Mick pointed out. Josef grimaced and concentrated on his blood. They were silent for a few minutes.

"What else is there to her?"

"Probably more than can be put down in a report." Mick skimmed the edge of his glass with his fingertips, wondering if he should help his friend in this. Josef could probably use a slight advantage. "She dances, too."

"Dances? Wait, she actually knows how to dance?" This was unusual in the humans of this day and age. Dancing had slowly deteriorated into two bodies grinding together. Real skill was hard to find on the average dance floor.

"She took classes as a child and was on the dance team in high school. She also took a class in college." Mick saw the flicker of real interest in Josef's eyes. That wasn't good news for Emmaline's normal life. "I know you won't change your mind about all this but will you at least promise to be careful?"

"I won't underestimate her again, Mick," Josef assured him, a carefree smile curving his lips. He was beginning to think this was all going to be more fun than originally expected.


	4. The Plot Thickens

Chapter Three: The Plot Thickens

"Hey, Beth," Emma said distractedly, her eyes fixed on the sketch pad she was currently hunched over. Something in her head needed to get out. So far all she had was a pair of hands. It was frustrating when an image was just on the tip of her imagination but wouldn't fall onto paper.

Beth Turner was a reporter for BuzzWire and even she felt sleazy doing what she was doing now. She'd been coming to the Clay Café off and on for about a year. She was rubbish at bowls, all of hers coming out disfigured no matter how much Emma had tried to help. But there was something soothing about working with her hands that took her mind off all the other rubbish complicating her life. Then when Mick had brought up her name with Josef in the room… Needless to say she'd gotten roped into the whole mess. Personally she didn't think the idea of Josef with a human was a good idea. The women he played with were one thing. He wasn't likely to have much of an emotional connection to the statuesque beauties he fed from but Emma was a different creature. If this ended badly the blame would fall partly on her.

Finally Emma looked up, abandoning the fruitless sketch. It occurred to her that there were a lot of blonde women in L.A., some real and some fake. Beth was one of the real ones with shampoo commercial hair. Perfect, bouncy and framing that angel face just right. She smiled. It was nice when the outsides of a person matched the insides. "You usually call ahead when you want to get your hands dirty," she said, flipping her sketchpad closed.

"Sadly I'm not here for that. I just brought a, uh, friend over to check out your work. He heard about you and said he was interested in buying some pieces."

"Well, thanks for the free advertising," Emma said as she stood up and wiped charcoal off her hands. She and Beth weren't close friends but they shared a respect that women who worked hard for a living often did. "Be sure to ask Sheryl for your favorite sandwich."

"I wouldn't leave without it," Beth told her sincerely. And she wouldn't. She would probably also leave a large tip to assuage her guilt about setting Emma up.

"And come by for another lesson some time. That last bowl you made looked almost normal," she joked. Beth smiled but it faded once Emma stepped out of her work room and immediately bumped into Josef.

She recognized him not by his looks but by the way she immediately felt unbalanced. It was like the moment after plunging into a pool, the weightless but helpless moment where nothing was solid. Then Emma regained her balance and the world came into focus again.

Oh, _crap_.

"How was your balance?" he asked, smiling down at her with the perfect I-own-the-world expression. Emma blinked rapidly. Had he been reading her mind?

"What?"

"Your balance. Did the contents of that box get wherever it was going in one piece?"

"Oh. Oh! Oh, right, yeah. It was fine." His smile had widened, annoying Emma to no end. She took a step back and narrowly avoided slamming herself into the wall. Her eyes swung back to Beth, almost accusatory. "This is your friend?"

"Yeah, he's the one," Beth said. There it was, the intense guilt. Mick so owed her for this. "Emma, this is Josef Konstantin. Josef, this is Emma Bradford." Emma was trying to get into a more professional state of mind. After all, he was here to potentially buy something. She didn't need to scare him off no matter how much she wanted to.

"Pleasure," Josef said, taking her hand in his. It was small with exquisite long fingers. The fact that he could probably snap those fine bones with one hard squeeze didn't escape him. She might be hardy but she was still human. He could handle one human.

"Beth said you were interested in my work." The same Beth who had subtly retreated away from them. Emma did her best to keep eye contact with Josef, knowing he would just love it if she felt uncomfortable. It was something men like him enjoyed.

"Very interested," he said, noting that she was closer than before. Now he just needed to know if he had anything to work with. There was, after all, a very minute possibility that she was not attracted to him. "You could say that I'm a collector of fine things." He brushed the tip of his finger over her pulse point, having kept her hand in his. The resulting shiver confirmed what his heightened senses were telling him. She was not as indifferent as she liked to think.

"If you'd excuse me for a minute," Emma nearly snapped, jerking her hand out of his. She returned to her work room and gave herself a minute to breath. "Not to self, keep feet firmly planted on the ground." The space helped and she went to her desk, getting out the binder filled with pictures of things she had created. All she had to do was hand it to him and answer any questions he had. No big deal.

She turned around and bumped into him again. "Jesus!"

"You can call me Josef." She let out a breath, her heart rate slowly going back to normal.

"How is it you just pop up wherever I happen to be?" He grinned.

"Do I?"

"Yeah," Emma snapped, shoving the binder at him. Her good intentions had more or less flown out the window. He was extremely disconcerting and she didn't fancy it. "All my work is in there. If you like something, fill out an order form. If you don't, then you know where the door is." Josef arched a brow at her tone.

"Are you this friendly to all your customers?"

"Just the ones I never want to see again," she replied coldly. She could afford one lost client. Maybe it wasn't good business but she had shunned high society in order to get away from men like Josef, not cater to their needs.

Without another word she sat down at her desk and back to work. It was definitely time to zone out. Josef stared at her back, watching her studiously ignore him. He decided two could play that game. He sat down on a nearby stool and began to flip through the binder she'd tried to impale him with. It didn't take long for him to see that those delicate hands were good with clay. She was original, talented and smart. One of the sculptures caught his eye. A naked woman with her face buried in the fury neck of a wolf, snarling at anyone who might approach.

"You're very good at what you do," Josef commented as he pulled out one of the order forms tucked in the pocket of the binder. She made a 'mmm' sound, the only indication that she knew he had spoken. He stood up and looked over her shoulder, interested in just what had her enthralled. It was a rough sketch, a few lines making up a woman holding out her hands. He studied Emma with her faded jeans and charcoal-darkened fingers. For a moment he felt like that wolf, possessive and desperate. Josef took an unnecessary breath and backed away.

They didn't speak again until he handed her his order form. She took it automatically, glancing up into his eyes. The way he looked at her nearly caused her to fall off her chair. Emma couldn't see anything human there, just animal instinct.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Konstantin," she managed to choke out. Josef smiled, the human mask slipping back over his face.

"Thanks." The two of them parted. Neither of them was left undisturbed.


	5. The Reaction

Chapter Four: The Reaction

Emma brought her car to a stop and turned off the engine. Drumming her fingers against the steering wheel, she looked up at the large house made up of concrete and windows. She hated places like this up in the hills of Los Angeles. There was no soul to them, just money. Her father probably owned a place down the street.

Resigning herself to the inevitable, she got out of the car. It was a cloudy day in California and Emma considered zipping up her sweatshirt. Still, she wouldn't be outside very long. As carefully as she could Emma took out the box which held Josef's order. Between working at the café and other orders, it had taken her a week and a half to get it finished. Occasionally she found herself thinking about him, his face interrupting her work. That had made her even more eager to get his order done. All she had to do now was drop it off and get him to sign a paper saying she had done as asked and had every right to bill him. Legal precautions, etcetera. Then Josef Konstantin would be out of her life.

Emma pushed the car door closed with her elbow and walked up to the front door. She was wondering if she'd have to kick at the door to get attention since her hands were full when a man opened it. She didn't recognize him but she would guess he was an office lackey. It might have been the air of 'Can I get you a coffee while I'm at it?' about him. Or the blackberry palm pilot. Whichever.

"Miss Bradford?" he asked. He didn't look any more impressed by her appearance than she was by his. She couldn't blame him. Emma had deliberately dressed down for the occasion.

"That's me," she told him, rebelliously proud in her three year old jeans and gray shirt with paint stains.

"Mr. Konstantin's been expecting you." He stepped back and let her in the door, albeit reluctantly. Emma resisted the urge to snort. He didn't think she belonged here and she couldn't agree more. "He's on the phone at the moment but you can wait outside by the pool." She understood the logic. Keep the wild child outside so she didn't ruin the furniture.

On her way through the house, Emma made little notes of all the things she didn't like and by the time she'd been shown outside to the pool it was a very long list. She did this as back up for when she saw Josef. Last time he'd thrown her off stride. Now she would remember all the reasons to keep him at arm's length.

The pool area was very clean, nothing but dark concrete and a pool. Maybe the decorator had thought the view would be enough. Emma secretly admitted it was pretty impressive. She set down the box out of the way of any careless feet and walked to the pool. The smooth surface reflected the gray sky. She stared at the woman reflected back at her. In Emma's opinion, she looked like she belonged in the musical _Rent_ with all the New York Bohemians. She pushed a pin back in her hair, making sure the black mess couldn't break free of its restraints.

Another person appeared in the reflection. He didn't walk up, he merely appeared. Emma didn't turn around. Her eyes were fixed on his image in the water. How had he done that?

"Mr. Konstantin." She turned on her heel to face him. The really stupid female part of her that had no scruples at all when it came to sex partners began drooling. There was just something about him standing with his hands in his pockets, dressed in his usual business clothes but _sans_ coat. That sense of contained strength, maybe. Or because with his shirt tucked in and jacket off she had a better look at the real lines of his chest. Emma bit the inside of her lip, bringing herself back to the present. "I brought your order."

"I saw," he replied. Her appearance affected him in a strange way. The hole in her jeans, the paint stains, they made her more vivid. Somehow more alive. "What did you think of the house?"

"Sort of reminded me of _Jumanji_," she told him. "What with all the tropical plants invading it." Josef smirked.

"And I suppose the plant life in your house is much more contained."

"Actually the plants in my house are dead. I forget to water them which typically equals death," Emma explained. Then she realized what was going on. He was making her relax around him. Making jokes, idle chatter. Oh, this wasn't good. She cleared her throat. "I'll just get that confirmation form and be on my way." He caught her arm as she passed.

"Why the hurry? I haven't got anything planned for this evening. You could stay." Emma could feel him through her sweatshirt, the light pressure of his hand and the slow glide of his thumb.

"I need to make something clear," she said as she carefully removed her arm from his grip. "You're too rich, too arrogant and way too dangerous for me. But thanks." He lifted a brow.

"So you're attracted to me but you've decided to warn me off." Emma's eyes widened.

"I am not – No one said anything about attraction," she sputtered. Josef smirked.

"Some things don't need saying." She glared at him darkly.

"I am not attracted to you. There is nothing even remotely appealing about your body or your attitude." They both knew she was lying about at least half of that statement.

"You're afraid, I can understand that." The indignation on her face was almost comical.

"Afraid? Of you? You… you… you self-obsessed scum bag!" Every now and again Emma's temper got a little wild. She blamed it on the Irish side of her father's family. When she got riled up, she did stupid things. The stupid thing she did then was throwing her body weight against him, pushing Josef off balance and into the pool. Sadly he managed to snag her wrist so she went tumbling in after him.

For a minute there wasn't anything but the roar of water against her ears, strong arms banded around her waist. When they surfaced she gasped, her lungs immediately relieved. Emma looked at Josef. She couldn't say exactly what triggered her reaction. It might have been the adrenaline or just how wet, disheveled and surprised he looked. Whatever it was, she started laughing.

Josef had no idea what he would have done if she hadn't laughed. He was too flabbergasted. She'd pushed him into his pool. The idea was laughable. He was a four hundred year old vampire. Didn't he have enough skill to dodge a human? Josef smiled as Emma rested her forehead on his shoulder, her own shoulders still shaking with laughter. Apparently he couldn't dodge her. As he'd once told Mick, unpredictability was appreciated after hitting the four hundred year mark.

"So would you say you overreacted just a little?"

"Yeah," she agreed once the giggle attack had let up. "I do that sometimes. Sorry." Emma realized how close, and how wet, they were. She looked up into his eyes, hands resting lightly against his chest. He was still holding her to him and she didn't mind. Josef realized she'd grown warm in his arms, warm and willing.

"Emma," he murmured, leaning down to take her lips.

"Mr. Konstantin!" One of his assistants had finally noticed the plunge they'd taken into the pool. The lot of them had filed out of the building to see if their commander and chief was all right. Josef nearly roared his frustration, the impulse to bare his fangs and warn them off almost overtaking his better judgment. If he did that, Emma would be gone before he could say vampire.

"We're fine. A few towels would help, though," he hinted. That was all it took. They scurried away to do his bidding. Josef helped Emma out of the pool. Both of them were soaked. Her sneakers made a squishy noise as she walked while his leather shoes were probably not in great shape. Still, everything he was wearing could be replaced. The moment never would.

"Look, I should go before I decide pushing you off a cliff is a good idea, too," Emma said, drawing away from his touch. That unreal feeling in the pool was gone. She was Emma again and she had boundaries.

"Do you dance?" She blinked.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you danced. There's this club that's just opened up and the DJ is something to hear. I'm mentioning it because I'm going there this Saturday and I'd like you to come." Emma shook her head.

"I've warned you, insulted you and assaulted you. Are you a glutton for punishment or something?" He grinned.

"You've discovered my secret. I have masochistic tendencies." Josef caught her hand before she could pull it away and pressed a kiss to her palm. He could feel her pulse racing beneath her soft skin. "Indulge me?"

"I don't think so," she murmured. That would definitely be a bad idea. She'd already cracked under his pressure. The last thing she needed to do was shatter.

"Well, you have a day to think about it," he said as the minions came back with more towels than was probably necessary. "Call me if you change your mind."

"I won't." Emma definitely would not. She couldn't.

Could she?


	6. The Dance

Chapter Five: The Dance

Emma was curled up on her bed, propped up by pillows so she could comfortably read _The Lovely Bones_. Her Saturday nights usually went like this unless she was slaving over a project. Josef's offer to go out dancing was tempting. That was why she wasn't going to go. The fact that he tempted her at all was so unusual it worked as a sort of metaphorical caution sign. There was no way she was going to deliberately put herself in a situation that might result in her liking that arrogant bastard.

The dancing, however, was tempting all on its own. She'd been so busy lately that she hadn't had the time to indulge in one of her favorite hobbies. Every now and then her muscles would ache and stiffen. Her body missed the exercise just as much as she missed the fun. Maybe she should take Sheryl up on her idea that they go clubbing on the weekends. After all, they wouldn't be in their twenties forever. Emma was only a month away from 30.

She was contemplating the birthday looming on the horizon when her phone rang. Emma picked it up without bothering to look at the caller I.D. Only Sheryl ever called on Saturdays, everyone else was willing to give her a day of rest.

"City morgue," she joked, turning a page in her book.

"How very kind of you to share your house with corpses, Emma." Her fingers went numb and she nearly dropped the phone. She knew that voice and it sure as hell wasn't Sheryl's.

"Mr. Konstantin, how did you get this number?"

"One of these days I'll get you to call me Josef," he told her. "And I used the phonebook." She blinked. Well, that was reasonable.

"Okay. Why are you calling me?"

"It's Saturday night. I knew that if you changed your mind you wouldn't call me because it would feel too much like surrender so I decided to call you. Have you changed your mind?"

"No," she snapped. He'd made a surprisingly accurate character judgment about her and it annoyed her to admit he was right. She glanced at the clock. "It's nine o'clock, Josef. Don't you think it's a little late to start a night on the town?"

"You could say I'm a night person."

"And you could say I'm a person who's worked all day and doesn't feel like getting dressed," she retorted. There was a pause on the other end.

"Is that your way of telling me you're naked?"

"No! Christ, Josef, get your head out of the gutter." His chuckle drifted over the phone.

"At least I got you to use my name." Emma frowned, realizing her slip. This was another reason why she shouldn't go anywhere with him. He was too clever. "However, if you're sure you don't want to join me, I suppose I can survive. It's obvious what the problem is."

"Oh?" she asked, raising a brow. "What is the problem, exactly?"

"You don't know how to dance."

"What?" she all but screeched, gripping the phone hard in her hand.

"Now, now, there's no need to get defensive. It's clear that you're embarrassed about it. A lot of people don't have natural rhythm, Emma. You don't have to be ashamed."

"Ashamed? Oh, I'll show you ashamed. Give me the directions to this club." He knew better than to argue with her in this state of mind. Josef willingly gave her simple directions and hung up after she said, "See you there."

Emma was dressed and heading for her car when she realized what he'd done. "Oh, shit!" She voted against kicking her tire with high heel shoes on and slapped the door instead. Josef had learned from that incident with the pool. Irritate her just right and she'd be willing to plunge into all sorts of stupid situations.

Thirty minutes later she and her very out of place car pulled to a stop near a booming club. "Night Life," she muttered, reading the sign. "Oh, yes, very original." The first floor was just black concrete while the second floor was all glass. She could see people sitting at tables and on couches. That was probably the more intimate floor. Emma made a mental note to avoid it like the plague.

She got out of the car and hurried across the street, purse in hand. So far she hadn't spotted Josef. Maybe he was already inside. Emma walked by the line of people waiting to get in and headed for the doorman. She knew enough about Josef to know that he wouldn't wait in line for anything.

"Excuse me, miss, you can't go in yet." She smiled at the bury doorman, appreciative of the 'miss'.

"I figured that. I was just looking for someone. Is Josef Konstantin already inside?" Immediately the expression on his face changed, becoming much more respectful.

"Do you know Mr. Konstantin?"

"He's the one who dragged me down here," Emma said, shrugging her shoulders. "Just thought I'd ask and see if I beat him." Then she spotted him. Josef moved out of the shadows of the club, taking in Emma's appearance. Had he thought she wasn't beautiful? Well, she was doing an awfully good impression of it. Her hair was parted to the side and for the first time he could see just how long it was. It hung past her hips, brushing the tops of her thighs. This was also the first time he'd seen her in a dress. It was dark green and clung to her hips, ending just below her knees. Her arms were bare and he noticed that she didn't wear jewelry. He'd never seen a ring, a bracelet or a necklace. Her ears weren't even pierced.

"You made it." Josef glanced at the doorman. "Any trouble here?"

"No, sir," he hastened to say. Emma was inside faster than you could say 'I want to keep my job'.

It was the typical club atmosphere. Loud music, talking, people going by with drinks. The only unusual thing was that she was here with a man instead of a group of women intent on having a good time. Josef looked different. Instead of a suit and tie he was wearing a red velvet jacket. The shirt was a darker shade of red with white stripes and unbuttoned at his neck.

"Impressive maneuver on the phone," she said, moving with him through the crowd. "You do realize I'll be watching out for that next time."

"If there is a next time then I've already won," he pointed out. She was mentally cursing as he led her to a secluded table in the corner. Unfortunately for Josef, he wasn't the only one there that she knew.

"Em? Hey, Em!" She turned around. Coming towards her was a man her height with brown hair and gentle gray eyes. Emma smiled.

"Brandon, what are you doing here?" He hugged her close and Josef's eyes flashed briefly to white, fangs cutting against his lips.

"I was just meeting up with some friends." He smiled down at her. It had been a while since he'd seen Emma. Ever since he'd stupidly confessed how much he cared about her, she had avoided him. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just, um, well…" she trailed off, not sure exactly how to say she'd allowed herself to be tricked into going dancing with a man she could barely stand. Emma looked at Josef. It didn't take a psychic to know he wasn't pleased. "Brandon, this is Josef Konstantin. Josef, this is a friend of mine, Brandon Keats." They shook hands but it wasn't exactly friendly.

"How do you know Em?" Brandon asked. He didn't like the look of Josef. He liked how he looked at Em even less.

"We did some business together."

"Well, I hope you don't mind if I steal her for a dance." Brandon looked at Emma for permission. She nodded quickly. Some distance would be good. She could get a little perspective. Brandon didn't wait to see if it bothered Josef or not. He swept her away from him and onto the floor.

"Sorry I've been avoiding you," Emma said above the music, moving instinctively to the rhythm.

"It's okay. I'm sorry I dumped all that stuff on you." She relaxed. Thank God, it wasn't going to be awkward. Brandon really was a good friend and she didn't want to lose him. Not to mention he was a safe dance partner.

Josef had already fed that night just in case he was tempted to sink his fangs into Emma's all too delicate flesh. It didn't seem to be helping him now. The instinct to kill Brandon was intense. The boy was intruding on Josef's territory. When it came to competition, Josef only had one rule. Destroy the opponent.

An arm came around her waist, pulling her back against a rock solid chest. "I'm sure you won't mind if I steal her back." His words brushed past her ear and she shivered. Josef turned her around in his arms. He'd shed his coat and Emma knew this wasn't going to be an easy dance.

The music pouring out of the speakers wasn't traditional tango music. But nothing about this situation was traditional. The crowd parted wherever the two of them moved, clearing away from the path of a hurricane. _Well I'm not paralyzed but, I seem to be struck by you. I want to make you move because you're standing still. _Emma might have been rusty but she was still flexible. Josef's hands were perfect guides, bending her, turning her, making her move with him. _If your body matches what your eyes can do, you'll probably move right through me on my way to you. _

Josef went down on one knee as she spun into him. Her hands rested briefly on his shoulders, his on her hips, while he stared up at her. He could hear her heart beating, listen to the way her body was humming as she danced. So human and yet she was beginning to enchant him in ways no vampire ever had. _Well, I'm still imagining a dark lit place or my place or your place. _Josef stood and led her through a maze of abrupt turns, quick steps and unpredictable bends. Emma didn't misstep, didn't look away from his eyes.

_You'll probably move right through me on my way to you._ The song ended as did their dance. His hand was on her back, another on the thigh she'd lifted and pressed against his hip. Dimly she could make out a few cheers in the background. Emma was too distracted by the way she'd wrapped herself around him and was unwilling to break away.

"You were wrong," she finally said. "I can dance." He smiled faintly. Emma had managed to unweave whatever spell had wrapped around them. She stepped away from him. Emma left him standing there and got her purse, making for the door. He never stopped shaking her up and she simply didn't know what to do about it anymore.

"Emma." She turned around, not surprised to see him right behind her. "What would you do if I called you again?" Emma backed away from him.

"I might not answer the phone." He nodded slightly. Josef had expected an answer like that. As she made her retreat, he began to plan his next move. Anything to block out the fact that this was no longer just business. Now it was personal.


	7. The Irony

Chapter Six: The Irony

It was cloudy again and the weather forecasters were predicting light showers. Emma was grateful to them because it kept families off the beach. On a Sunday afternoon it was usually crowded with small, screaming children or teenagers wearing bikinis made of string. However, on a cloudy Sunday only a few came out to partake of the ocean's many delights.

She was there to listen and to sketch. That image she'd been working on was still out of reach so she tried something else. Unfortunately it turned out to be her subconscious reaching out to her. A man and a woman dancing, clinging to each other like that was the only way to keep their balance. _Josef_.

Emma snapped her sketchpad shut and started rubbing at the charcoal on her hands. His name kept popping up in her mind. She'd dreamed of him, too. Last Saturday had been far too intense. She hadn't realized just how accurate she'd been when she told him he was too dangerous for her. Not just dangerous, lethal. A man like him could disrupt her entire life.

Her cell phone started ringing and Emma frowned at it. No one called her cell unless it was an emergency. Or unless they weren't acquainted with the rule. _Josef_. He'd called her house phone a few times the past week, probably testing her resolve. But her cell phone? She picked up.

"Hello?"

"Em, it's me." Emma let out a breath when she heard Sheryl's voice. Then she tensed again. Sheryl knew the rule. Something was wrong.

"What's happened?"

"My brother's dead." Her voice broke and she started sobbing. "Oh, God, he's dead. I can't… I can't…"

"Sheryl, where are you?" Emma asked. She was shoving things into her bag, getting ready to sprint across the beach and break the speed limit once she was in her car.

"At his house. I already called the cops but… Please, Emma, I'm all alone."

"I'll be there as fast as I can, I promise. Just hold on." She hung up.

On the way, Emma tried to come to grips with the fact that a thirty-two year old guy was dead. Sheryl and Michael Larson had been thick as thieves. He'd been good to Emma as well, giving her a substantial loan that he hadn't expected her to pay back as quickly as she did. They hadn't been tight friends but they both loved Sheryl.

Emma beat the sirens by two minutes. She ran out of her truck and up the steps to the old Victorian house. A replica, true, but a really excellent one. Sheryl was on the porch swing, still sobbing. Emma hugged her as soon as she could reach her.

"Emma, oh God, Emma!" she cried, burying her face in her friend's clothes. "I c-can't do this. I'm n-not supposed to do this." Emma just hugged her close. She knew what she meant. Sheryl was younger than Michael so one day, if God was kind, she would have had to bury him. But not now. Not when they were both still so young.

It never ceased to amaze Emma just how professional the police could be. The paramedics came, too, but they didn't make eye contact. It was awkward, meeting the people who once knew the corpse lying in the other room. Maybe that wasn't a kind thought on Emma's part but she didn't care.

The officers questioned Sheryl. A sobbing, broken woman who could barely string together a sentence. Slowly she got out her story. She'd come over to visit. The door had been broken down. She'd started calling for Michael but there hadn't been a response. Then she'd found his body lying in the living room. Emma didn't go inside to see the blood her friend talked about. Apparently there had been a lot pooled around the body. 'The body'. Strange how death removed your humanity. You became 'the victim' or 'the body'. Maybe they called him that because it wasn't Michael anymore. He was gone.

Sheryl's parents finally arrived and Emma surrendered her position as constant hugger to Mrs. Larson. She back off, giving them space. All of them were grieving. Instead she listened to the police discuss it among themselves.

"Two wounds in the neck, massive blood loss. This is like that murder all those months ago. That alleged vampire attack." Emma frowned. Vampire attack? How ridiculous was that?

"Hey, are you Sheryl Larson's friend Emma?" She looked at the man addressing her. He definitely wasn't a cop. His face was chiseled, his eyes dark and he had brown wavy hair. The dark thigh-length coat added another level of appeal, at least to her.

"That's me." He nodded then paused, looking at her a little closer.

"Have we met before?"

"Not that I can recall," Emma told him. And she definitely would have remembered him. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Mick St. John. I'm a private detective."

"Emma Bradford." His eyes widened. This was Emmaline. Now he could see it in her face. Those photos really hadn't done her justice, not that he'd memorized them. They just hadn't caught her right. "Isn't it a little early for the Larsons to have called you in on the case? They just found out he was dead."

"No, I'm not here for that," Mick explained. "I was hired to find someone and it led me here." Hired to find a vampire and it led him to a victim of a vampire attack. And the victim's sister just happened to be a close personal friend of Emma Bradford. This was one of those times when the word irony didn't even begin to describe the situation. "Did you know Ellen Hayes?"

"Sure I did," Emma said, raising a brow. "She and Michael were going to get married in a few months. She didn't have any close friends because she was relatively new in town so I was going to be a bridesmaid. We hung out a few times, got to know each other. Why?"

"Hey, Em?" Emma looked over her shoulder at Sheryl.

"Just a second," she called. When she turned back to talk to Mick, he was gone. Emma frowned. All right, that had been eerily like Josef.

Mick called Josef once he'd reached his car. As usual, he picked up after the first ring.

"Josef, I just met Emma." There was a moment of silence on the other end.

"Deliberately or accidentally?"

"Accidentally," Mick answered, noting the slight possessive quality of his friend's voice. "Although considering the circumstances, you're going to wish I'd hunted her down just to get a good look at her. She's at a murder scene right now, comforting her friend who just lost her brother to a vampire." Every now and again, vulgarity was the only option.

"Shit!"

Emma understood why the cops finally ushered her off the scene. She wasn't exactly serving a useful purpose anymore. The family was leaving and the media had begun to flock around the house. She was pretty sure a few cameras had spotted her but she was gone before any of the reporters got their microphones in her face. During the ride home she tried piecing it all together in her mind. First of all, Michael was dead. That was an earth shaking reality in itself. Then Mick St. John, looking for Ellen, who no one had actually seen for a week. What was the story there? Had Ellen killed Michael? No. No way. Ellen had been crazy for Mike, there was no way.

Two wounds in the throat and massive blood loss. That didn't necessarily equate to some sort of vampire-worshipping psycho. Still, Emma didn't rule it out.

There was a car parked in front of her house when she arrived. Emma pulled into the driveway and got out. That had to be a Lamborghini. She looked up at her porch and there was Josef Konstantin. He leaned against the railing casually, studying her face.

"You were on the news."

"I'm not in the mood, Josef," she told him shortly, walking up the steps and toward the door. Emma was going to go inside and attempt to lock out the world.

"Are you all right?" he asked, reaching out to touch her. She jumped out of the way.

"I'll be fine once I can get a little peace and quiet." Emma didn't want anyone comforting her. She dealt with pain her own way. Alone. No touching required. She got inside and started to close the door but Josef's foot blocked it.

"You shouldn't be alone right now." Emma glared at him.

"You do not have any idea what I need," she hissed, attempting to push him back. Instead he squeezed his way in and shut the door himself. Then she was fighting against his embrace, against the arms that were holding her tight to his chest. "Don't do that, don't do that!" She didn't want to break down, not in front of him. Josef didn't say anything and didn't let go.

Soon she started crying, the struggle coming to an end. "He was a good guy," she whispered hoarsely. Emma was holding onto him now. She'd wanted her pillow to cry into but instead she got Josef. "He was a really good guy."

Josef stroked her hair, silent as he knew she needed him to be. He didn't comfort people but he comforted her. He hadn't been able to stop himself just like he hadn't been able to stop himself from driving down and seeing her. That urge to protect her overpowering years of insensitivity. "You're safe," he told her. "Safe with me."

But was she?


	8. The Desperation

Chapter Seven: The Desperation

Emma couldn't remember exactly where she was when she woke up. It took a moment to recognize the wooden walls, the hint of plain white counters in her kitchen. She never slept in the living room unless she was ill and camped out in front of the TV. Why was she here again?

She shifted and the arms around her waist tightened. There was a moment of blind panic before she realized they were familiar arms. _Josef_. Emma could vaguely remember being picked up like she was about as heavy as a pillow and carried into her living room. She must have cried herself to sleep.

And Josef had held her.

She shivered, turning to look at his face. He looked at peace and relaxed. Apparently she hadn't been the only one to drift off. Despite the struggle, she found herself warming towards him. Josef wasn't nearly as annoying when he was unconscious and she could appreciate that he really was handsome.

To avoid that particular revelation, she twisted around to look at the watch on his wrist. Apparently it was three o'clock in the morning. Emma would have to call Brandon and ask him to take Sheryl's place in the café. She closed her eyes, remembering that tear-stained face. God, poor Sheryl. She could easily imagine how devastated she must feel. Emma had felt something similar when she lost her mother.

Any thought of her mother went flying when she felt Josef nuzzling the base of her throat. She figured he was at least half asleep, that he would do this to any strange woman he found in his arms. Emma opened her mouth with every intention of waking him up. Instead she sighed. His lips were moving across her skin, frightening and soft all at once. A tiny, primal instinct told her to arch her neck so he could have the access he needed. She felt the glide of sharp fangs which she would later dismiss as her imagination.

He had woken up too warm. A vampire was not meant to rest outside the soothing temperature of his freezer. Josef couldn't exactly recall why he wasn't where he was supposed to be. What he knew was that he was hungry and needed to feed. The warm human body next to him was full of blood. He could smell its rich aroma just beneath the surface of flesh.

The scent was familiar so at first he assumed he was with one of his freshies. He moved slowly. A touch of arousal always made the blood taste better. Even as he concentrated on his meal, the scent tugged at him. What was it, exactly? Some kind of citrus scent. Grapefruit. He froze with his fangs barely a centimeter away from piercing skin and reaching nourishment.

This was not one of the many women he fed from. This was Emma. A nearly imperceptible growl trickled out of his throat while he struggled for control. The hunger, the need to take from her was made worse by the fact that she wasn't resisting. Inside of him, the vampire believed that was an invitation. But Josef knew she didn't know what she was doing. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, they had gone back to their natural color. Josef would have to leave soon and find a meal. Emma wouldn't let him within a mile of her if she knew just what he was. Feeding off of her might give his secret away, just a hunch.

"Emma," he murmured. She looked at him and her eyes were still a bit clouded from what he'd done to her.

"Morning," she said quietly. Strange, she'd felt so clear headed a moment ago.

"Will you be all right on your own?" Josef hated to move away from her. He wasn't used to self-denial. After years of having exactly what he wanted whenever he happened to want it, restraining his impulses was much harder.

"Probably." Emma realized his arms weren't restraining her anymore and she clambered up off the couch. Her brain was beginning to function again. They were both busy people with full schedules. This impromptu sleep over would probably mess up his sleep cycle.

The busy thoughts helped. They distracted her from that frustrated feeling low in her stomach. "Thanks for sticking around. It was nice of you." Josef smiled briefly at her as she escorted him toward the door.

"My pleasure." Then he just left. No touches, no questions about seeing her later, nothing. Emma frowned at first then she rolled her eyes. Maybe he wasn't in the mood for flirting at three o'clock in the morning.

"Honestly, Emma, you can be such a twit sometimes," she told herself, latching the door. She hurried up the stairs and chose to spend the time before she went to work indulging in a long shower.

At five o'clock she pulled up in front of Clay Café. It didn't open until seven but she spent her mornings there working on commissions and, all too rarely, her own private projects. There was a cool mist in the air as she unlocked the front door. Almost immediately after that she noticed something out of place. A woman's blouse was lying on the floor. Emma frowned and picked it up. "What on earth?" Then her eyes followed the trail of clothes. Shoes, socks, beige slacks. It was like someone had undressed in a hurry and just threw their things any which way.

The trail led to her work room. Uncertain, Emma pushed open the door. The clothes she had collected fell out of her numb arms. Someone had cleared her stool and chair out of the way to make room for a child's plastic blow-up pool. But there was no child inside it. The pool was filled up with ice and submerged in the ice was a woman. She was extremely pale and tiny, barely over five feet tall. Her pale red hair was cut short, just below her ears. Emma knew it used to reach her shoulder blades. She knew because she'd seen this woman before. "Ellen," she whispered hoarsely.

Wide gray eyes flickered open. "Emma?" She stirred, sitting up straighter. "Emma?"

"I'm here." She hurried to her side. For a moment she thought she'd walked in on a corpse. "Ellen, what are you doing here? And what… what is all this?"

"I'm so sorry, Emma. I don't want you to get dragged into this but I didn't have anywhere else to go. They all think I killed Michael. I tried going to his family but I heard them. They think I killed him." Ellen's eyes filled up with tears. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I never wanted him to get hurt."

"Of course you didn't." Clearly Ellen was in shock. Emma tried to get her out of the pool full of ice but the woman wouldn't budge. "Let's get you warmed up."

"No, no, I need the cold." She looked at Emma with old eyes, suddenly filled with pity. "There's so much you don't know. I can't even explain it without putting you in danger"

"Did you buy all this?" she asked, uncertain how to respond to Ellen's last statement.

"Yes. I didn't have a lot of money left but I had enough for this." She pulled the ice over her chest like a blanket. Emma stared at her, starting to get a little frightened.

"Ellen, what aren't you telling me?"

"You can't tell anyone I'm here," she said, ignoring the question. "Not a soul. People are looking for me."

"I know, I met one of them," Emma replied. But why were they so intent on finding Ellen? The panic in the woman's eyes was overwhelming.

"You met one? Who? Who!"

"Mick St. John," she said quickly, surprised at the terror in Ellen's voice. At least the name seemed to soothe her a little.

"He's not one of them. Why was he looking for me?"

"He said he was a P.I. He's been hired to find you." Ellen shifted, looking away.

"Did he mention by whom?"

"No, he didn't. Just who is looking for you, Ellen? What are you dragging me into?" Mystified or not, Emma was capable of demanding answers. Her eyes shifted to look at her.

"Are you going to help me?" Emma considered that for a moment. Whatever was happening here, it was dangerous. The last time she'd seen Ellen she'd been a glowing soon-to-be bride. Now she was crouching in ice and shaking from something other than cold.

"Yes," she told her. "Yes, I'll help you." A stupid decision but a final one. Ellen deserved better than what she'd been driven to.

"Okay." Vulnerable but reassured by Emma's promise to help, she smiled. "Just promise me something, all right?"

"All right," she said, nodding. "What?"

"Don't scream."


	9. The Investigator

Chapter Eight: The Investigator

Mick St. John's address was in the phonebook. That was only one of the many reasons Emma was pacing outside his door. All the others were much more complicated.

She'd called in Brandon and he was minding the café for her. Thankfully there hadn't been any lessons scheduled for that day so Emma could do some research. She'd made a promise and she intended to keep it. However, had she known exactly what that promise entailed she might not have made it.

Ellen was a vampire. At the crack of dawn, cocooned in ice, she'd shown her fangs. Her gray eyes had turned white and a fierce beauty had transformed her face. Thankfully, Emma hadn't screamed though it had been a near thing.

Vampires were real. Emma sighed and leaned against the wall. She was still having trouble coming to grips with that particular reality. Vampires were supposed to be myths, creatures of legend. They were not meant to wander around L.A. getting into trouble. At least that was what she used to think. Now they were real.

Ellen Hayes had been born in Philadelphia to a mother on crack and a drunken father. Not the greatest environment to grow up in. She learned things on the street and developed a talent for stealing. Her delicate beauty, a curse on some occasions, helped her in this pursuit because no one was willing to believe she was guilty when her pretty eyes got teary. When she turned eighteen, everything changed. She met three guys in the middle of the night and they didn't let her go. For a few days they played with her, pushing her frail human body to the limits. Then they turned her.

Emma knew she wouldn't forget the details of the first ten years of Ellen's undead life. She'd listened to them all through the morning, only leaving once to see that her business didn't collapse around her ears, then coming back to listen through the afternoon. It hadn't been necessary for her to know it all but Ellen needed to say it. To purge it. Not even Michael had known everything and he had known a great deal. For instance, he'd been aware of what she was. He knew she had run away her sire and was trying to forge a new life. He loved her even though she thought she was a monster.

Of course, her sire had found her. He and his friends weren't willing to give up their immortal play toy. It was also a matter of pride. They couldn't let a fledgling get away with disrespect. Ellen had been forced to watch as they killed her fiancé. Pure luck helped her escape along with the strength rage could bring. She fled and came to Emma. There was no one else to turn to.

Finally Emma worked up the courage to knock on the door. Mick checked the security camera and was surprised to find her image. Why would she have tracked him down? She knocked again and he pulled the door open.

"Emma Bradford, right?" She smiled. It was nice to be remembered by an attractive man.

"Good memory, Mr. St. John."

"Mick," he corrected. "Come on in." She walked past him and Mick caught something on the breeze. A hint of decay that came only from vampires. Had she been with Josef recently? It was faint so he couldn't be sure.

"I came to ask you about Ellen," Emma began then stopped when she saw the other person in the room. "Beth?"

"Emma?" The reporter was just as surprised to see Emma as Emma was to see her.

"You two know each other," she said, slowly realizing what that meant. "And Beth knows Josef so…"

"Actually, she only knows Josef because she knows me," Mick admitted. There was so much Emma couldn't be told. She could at least know a little of the truth.

"Jesus Christ, the world is getting smaller all the time," she muttered.

"I work with Mick sometimes when I'm researching a story." Beth also worked with Mick because she was half in love with him but that wasn't something to confess to her pottery instructor.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking into the Larson murder, would you?"

"Well, actually, yes."

"Thought so." It was a tiny, tiny world. Emma decided she could brood about this series of coincidences later and turned to Mick. "Anyway, back to my original point, I want to know why you were hired to look for Ellen and who did the hiring." Mick studied her face as if looking for answers.

"Why the interest?"

"Because I think they might be connected to Michael's murder." Mick and Beth had just been talking about that possibility. Still, they treated Emma with caution as they migrated into Mick's office. Neither of them really knew Emma or what she might do with her information. In a way she was a radical element in their carefully balanced world.

"Okay, so you don't think Ellen was the killer?" Beth asked once they were seated. Emma shook her head.

"We weren't best friends but I know Ellen. She adored him. I think she found out someone was looking for her and she tried to protect Michael by disappearing."

"That doesn't explain why she would come back to the house," Mick pointed out.

"To stop Michael from trying to find her and putting himself in danger," Emma supplied neatly. It was partly true. However, Ellen had also gone back for a gun. She'd admitted to having them specially made, intending to use them on herself instead of being dragged back to Philadelphia. What she'd forgotten when she ran was that she'd need a gun to use them.

Emma had another theory on that. Ellen might be a vampire but her heart was still painfully human. She had probably wanted to see Michael one last time as well as warn him of the coming danger. "That's why I need to know who hired you."

"No offense, but you own a café and make pots for a living. Why get involved with a police investigation?" Beth tried not to wince at Mick's summary of Emma's profession. The woman's eyes had turned to chips of green ice.

"No one hurts my friends." She didn't need to say anything else. Mick understood that this was personal. It was a part of vampire nature to become territorial and possessive, not that he was proud of it. There was just one thing that bothered him about this situation.

"When was the last time you saw Ellen Hayes?"

"Last week," she responded automatically and only because she'd drilled herself in the car. Still, her surprise at the abrupt question worked to Mick's advantage. Her pulse was quicker, light perspiration indicating nervousness. Emma was lying.

"If you did happen to see her," Mick said, watching her eyes, "you could tell her that my client has vanished and all his I.D. was falsified. I don't know where he is now." She nodded and tried not to be disappointed by the dead end.

"Thanks. Let me know if you hear anything." Emma smiled at Beth then took off. She wanted to get back to Ellen and make sure she was still safe.

The vampire and human left in the room stayed quiet a few minutes after she left, both thinking over their own conclusions.

"She's not a very good liar," Beth said. She might not have super senses but she could spot a lie when she heard it. Any talented reporter possessed that skill.

"Yeah," Mick agreed. Josef had mentioned that. He should probably call him and let him know what Emma was up to.

"So Emma is probably harboring a fugitive." Mick thought about the trace of vampire scent that had clung to Emma.

"I think it's pretty likely."

"Do you think she knows Ellen is a vampire?" she asked. He glanced at her.

"If you found out a friend of yours was in trouble but also happened to be a vampire, what would you do?" Beth smiled.

"I'd get over whatever panicky thoughts I was having and do my best to help." She held up her hand when he began to speak. "But I'm not Emma. It could be that she has no clue what she's gotten into."

"Could be," Mick agreed. "But not likely." He got out his cell phone and dialed Josef's number.

The sun had set and Ellen was pacing in Emma's living room, waiting for her to come home. It didn't take long. The door opened and Emma came in, holding a bag. Ellen could smell the cool blood within it.

"Oh, Emma, you're a saint," she whispered, hurrying forward. Emma handed the bag off to her without any reluctance. The trip to the morgue had been awkward and the mortician had stared at her like she was insane. Still, she'd gotten the blood Ellen had asked for.

"Emma Bradford, patron saint of vampires," she joked. "Just, uh, don't drink it in front of me." She'd never been ill at the sight of blood but the sight of Ellen drinking blood might be a little different. Her vampire friend went into the kitchen to get a glass and be out of Emma's line of sight.

"Did you see the P.I.?" she asked. Emma sighed and plopped down on the couch.

"Yeah, that was a dead end. Apparently his client up and vanished on him. So right now I have no clue where to look next." There was silence in the kitchen then the sound of eager gulping. Emma grimaced. True, she wanted to have a drink after bad news like that but she would have gone for wine. "Know what? I'm going to go upstairs and take a shower. Maybe some brilliant thought will magically fall out of my ears if I scrub hard enough."

She went up the stairs and into her bathroom. It wasn't big but it was clean. Emma began to undress, also trying to think of what clue she might have overlooked. How did one go about finding vampires in a very secretive way? She pulled the shower curtain aside then immediately rolled her eyes. The tub was half filled with melting ice. "Thanks, Ellen," she mumbled.

Emma pulled the plug, watching the water drain out. Now she just had to contend with the ice. She turned on the hot water and stepped into the tub. For a moment she was both hot and cold. Emma grit her teeth, allowing her body to adjust to the bizarre temperature.

The phone started ringing and Ellen shouted, "Do you want me to give you the phone?"

"Just let the machine get it!" she shouted back. No one was going to interrupt her shower. Emma scrubbed hard at her skin, remembering what Ellen had told her about scent being so much sharper for vampires. She didn't want to offend her houseguest.

Twenty minutes later she came down the stairs in a bathrobe, rubbing her hair with a towel. Ellen was waiting at the foot of the stairs. She was biting her lip nervously and Emma frowned. "What is it?"

"Someone named Josef just called," Ellen told her. "And he didn't sound happy."


	10. The Disagreement

Chapter Nine: The Disagreement

"That arrogant son of a bitch." Ellen winced. Emma hadn't taken Josef's message very well. After listening to him talk about staying out of the investigation and leaving it to the professionals, she'd stormed up the stairs and started cursing. Now that her damp hair was neatly brushed and she'd pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, Emma was still cursing.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ellen asked. "Maybe the best response is no response." Emma snorted as she laced up her tennis shoes.

"His skull is too thick for subtlety." The vampire bit her lip, afraid that Emma might bite her head off if she suggested that all the rage was just her way of covering the hurt she felt because Josef was underestimating her. It probably wasn't true, anyway.

"You could wait until you've calmed down a little,' Ellen suggested tentatively.

"No, he deserves the full force of my anger." She finished with her shoes and picked up a jacket. "Did you look up the number?" Ellen sighed, handing Emma a piece of paper. The number in the call history hadn't matched the ones Josef had called from before and Emma wanted to know exactly where he was.

"He called from an office at that address."

"Thanks," Emma said. "I shouldn't be too long." Ellen watched helplessly as her friend left the house. From what she heard on the message machine, Josef didn't strike her as the type who would lie down and whimper when someone shouted at him.

Emma was very good at holding on to her temper for as long as she wanted. She did so while parking her car and hurrying up the steps of the office building where Josef apparently worked. The message kept repeating in her mind. _"Stay out of this, Emma. You're way out of your league."_ It burned in her ears, overwhelming her better judgment.

"Excuse me, miss? Can I help you?" The receptionist scanned Emma's appearance, not bothering to hide her sneer. Honestly, she could care less if some stick thing receptionist thought she looked unfit to be in her precious building. Emma didn't bother to hide it, either.

"Yes, you can. Which floor is Josef Konstantin's office on?" She blinked. Obviously she hadn't expected that kind of request.

"Well, it's on the top floor. Do you have an appointment?" Emma saw her reaching for the phone. Either she was calling to tell Josef he had a visitor or she was calling security.

"He'll see me," Emma replied, marching towards the elevators.

"Wait! You can't just go up there!"

"The hell I can't," she muttered as the doors slid open and she stepped inside. With a firm press of a button, her ascent to the top floor began. Emma tapped her foot impatiently. Investigations leading to dead ends, picking up blood at the morgue, showers in a tub of ice and then a phone call telling her how completely ill equipped she was to deal with the new dangers in her life all added up made her an extremely irritated woman.

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open. She stepped out, making her way down the hall to the biggest set of doors she saw. Josef went for the bigger is better mentality. She'd bet his office was in there.

Emma's hunch turned out to be correct. She walked through the door and onto beautifully tiled floors. The office was very Josef. More space than necessary, a wall that was basically a window to show off the impressive view and perfectly polished furniture. Art practically littered the place, clearly a way of showing off all that he could afford. The flat screens showing off the various stocks and the fact that there was a desk were really the only clues that this was an office and not some opulent penthouse. Well, that and the few men in business suits who looked made to carry out orders at the drop of a hat.

At the center of it all was Josef. He was staring straight at her, as if he'd been waiting for her to walk through the door. His hands were in the pants of his black trousers and suspenders further outline the details of his chest beneath the vivid red color of his shirt. She tried not to be unnerved by his eyes. He watched her as if he could see each individual twitch of her nerves under her skin.

"This is a surprise." Josef had smelled her. As he'd tried to distract himself from the nagging feeling of dread at the idea of Emma being in danger with work and mundane realities such as money, her scent had drifted by on the air. That bizarre mixture of clay and grapefruit was unique.

"It shouldn't be," she retorted, eyes narrowing. He had come to recognize the signs of her temper building up to dangerous heights and knew he was in for some trouble. Josef snapped his fingers, sending the office boys scurrying out. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course, just snap your fingers and everyone falls into line. Is that what you were expecting me to do?"

"You'll have to be more specific," Josef said, coming out from around the desk. They met in the middle of the room. Her cheeks were flushed with temper, blood pounding through her veins. Even if it was aggravating he had to admit she was beautiful when she was angry.

"When you called me up to tell me just what I would and would not do," she all but hissed. "You had absolutely no right poking your head in where it didn't belong."

"Being a part of your life, I felt I did have some right."

"What on earth gave you that idea? We barely know each other." He raised a brow.

"The other night may have won me the privilege of inserting my opinion," Josef hinted quietly. Her scowl deepened.

"So you held me while I cried. Big deal." She smacked his chest, wishing to shove him back a step but he barely flinched. "And you can't win anything with me. My life is not some kind of game."

"Hearing you deny that there is anything between us is beginning to get old," Josef said, completely ignoring her last statement.

"I keep trying to hammer the truth into your head but you just won't listen!" Emma shouted, throwing up her hands. "So I'm going to try one more time. I don't want anything from you. I am going to live my life exactly how I please and that includes straying into dangerous situations you think I can't handle. What lies between us is nothing except bad feelings. Let it go, Josef. Your game just ended." She turned on her heel and intended to storm out the door. Her progress was interrupted by Josef appearing in front of her and almost slamming her into a nearby wall.

"I think that this time you're the one who should be listening." He took her hands and pinned them above her head with one hand, the other resting on the small of her back. A fire seemed to erupt along her skin and this time it had nothing to do with anger. "Nothing is over. You will not take suicidal risks such as personally tracking down whoever killed your friend's brother. What lies between us is considerably more than a little irritation and…" he trailed off, leaning in to smell the hint of arousal adding spice to her blood. His breath across her skin made her shiver. "I think you do want something from me." Emma managed to glare at him but her heart rate gave away her real feelings.

"Go to hell, Josef." It was a dare. He could feel the real meaning, just under the words. He could feel it in the rush of blood, in her deep breaths.

"Not without you." His mouth sealed over hers. Emma's senses went mad under the pressure of his lips. She couldn't move. She couldn't resist the hunger with which he was infecting her. Her hands were released as he moved to cup the back of her head, sinking his fingers into her damp hair.

Josef had to remember that humans needed to breathe. He pulled back and looked down into Emma's face. Her swollen mouth made him lick his lips with a barely repressed hunger. She stared back at him with a dazed expression. Not once in her life had someone kissed her with that level of expertise and attention. For a minute she thought she'd suffered from a head injury and was now delusional. If she was, Emma never wanted to go back to normal.

She gripped his tie and tugged, pulling his head down so she could kiss him. A growl rumbled low in his chest as she wound her arms around his neck. Josef pulled her close to his body while seducing her mouth with his tongue. She could feel every hard, chiseled inch. His talented lips moved to her neck and Emma whimpered.

"Do you have a couch or something?" she asked in a hoarse voice. His teeth scraped her neck which sent a pulse of sensation down her skin and straight to the intense throbbing need low in her stomach. "Screw it, there's a desk."

"Couch," he mumbled against her skin. His hands had slid up under her shirt and he was eager to see as well as touch the smooth expanse of her stomach. It would have been an awkward move across the room if not for Josef's perfect balance. Emma lost her jacket on the way to the couch. Josef lost his tie.

The two of them probably would have stopped for nothing if Mick hadn't cleared his throat. Josef's head swung around. He should have smelled the other vampire enter the room. But then again, he had been a tad distracted. "Hello, Mick."

"Hey, Josef." He was looking away from the two of them and tried to seem innocent but the smirk on his face ruined the attempt. Emma's face had turned blazing red. Just what in the hell had she been doing?

"Christ," she muttered, pushing Josef's hands away. She hurriedly got off the couch and scooped up her jacket. Neither vampire spoke. Mick was too embarrassed and Josef was too smug. Emma left feeling humiliated, annoyed at herself and physically extremely frustrated.

When would she learn to stop playing with fire?


	11. The Inferno

Chapter Ten: The Inferno

When she got home, Emma's head was still spinning. Josef had kissed her. She'd kissed Josef. They'd almost done the deed right on his couch in his _office_. She wasn't a virgin by any stretch of the imagination. Her college had been filled with interesting broody artists who were good with their hands. Still, she'd never been that desperate before. Emma usually maintained control of her body but when Josef kissed her everything else just vanished.

Emma reached into her jacket pocket and took out her cell phone. That was another thing she'd forgotten when he was kissing her senseless, otherwise she wouldn't have let her jacket just fall to the ground. While she made sure it was still functioning she decided to add Josef's office number to her many speed dials. It wasn't because she'd ever be eager to talk to him, of course. It was just more convenient if some devastating event took place that actually required her to call him. Plus, it was a habit to add any number she knew into her phone.

It was late at night by now. Emma got out of the car and hurried up to the porch. Ellen was probably worrying about her. However, she paused when she saw that the front door was open. Under normal circumstances she would assume that she'd been forgetful and left it open. These were not normal circumstances. Vampires walked the streets now and nothing was normal.

What she needed was someone she could trust to come over and check things out for her without blowing Ellen's cover. Who did she trust with this kind of thing? Who could handle it? She backed away from the door and quickly pushed the speed dial for Josef's number. As was his habit, he picked up on the first ring.

"Well, Emma, this is a surprise. It usually takes longer for you to see reason." She clenched her teeth and reminded herself to focus on the problem.

"Is Mick still there? I need to talk to him." There was a tense pause before Josef relinquished the phone.

"What's up?"

"If you were hiding a fugitive from some very dangerous people and you came home to an open door, what would you do?" Emma knew she'd have a lot of explaining to do but she didn't really believe Mick would call the police. He didn't seem like that kind of guy. Besides, cops and P.I.s didn't usually play well together.

"Get out of there, Emma. Right now." Emma stumbled back more out of surprise than obedience. Then it occurred to her that if vampires were after Ellen and that's who had broken in, wouldn't they be able to smell her? Wouldn't they know she was here?

They did.

"Emma?" Mick asked, frown lines creasing his brow. Josef was standing very still. No flicker of emotion showed on his face as he waited for Mick to assure him that Emma had left her house and was even now driving to safety. He didn't say that. "Emma, are you there?"

"She's dead." Whoever had spoken hung up the phone and Mick was left listening to dead air. Dead. He looked at Josef. No words were necessary. Both of them were out the door in a flash of inhuman speed.

Emma's breath was coming fast as she stared into the beastly eyes of a vampire. He'd pushed her into the house and slammed the door hard behind them, the force of it shaking the wall. She'd listened to his curt response to Mick with a small flutter of hope. At least they'd be coming for her. All she needed to do was stall for time. "Maybe not dead yet," the vampire said quietly. One hand wrapped around her throat. "But you will be in a minute."

"Nicholas!" The vampire's grip loosened as he looked into her living room. Another vampire strode out. The similarities between them were obvious. Both were blonde, slim and young. At least they looked young. She definitely wouldn't have pegged either of them for over nineteen. "Would you use your nose for once?"

"What? She's just a human. Snack food." Nicholas leered at her. The other vampire gripped the arm that was still holding her still.

"Smell closer, Nicholas. She reeks of age." Emma frowned at that. After all, she wasn't that old. Nicholas sniffed her tentatively then abruptly released her.

"What is she, Samuel?"

"A plaything, I would imagine," Nicholas replied. "Whatever vamp she belongs to is well over three hundred years old. We don't want to piss him off." Emma's head was buzzing. Plaything? What were they talking about? Without a word of explanation they pushed her into the living room. That's where she saw Ellen being restrained by yet another vampire. They must have been the ones responsible for turning her. And for the torture that had been her vampire life.

"Don't hurt her!" she cried out, straining against the elder vampire's arms. Ellen knew she couldn't break out of his grip but she had to try. Nicholas, Samuel and Ryan just laughed. They always laughed at her. She was pathetic.

"We'll do what we want," Ryan hissed in her ear. Emma scowled.

"Just what are you planning to do? Since you've broken into my house and assaulted my guest, I think it would be polite of you to inform me." She was trying to be brave. It probably wasn't working but she really, really wanted to try.

"You have a smart mouth, little human," Samuel noted, a haughty look on his face. Emma glared.

"Little? We're the same height, dumb ass." He hit her before she could see his hand move. Pain exploded along her cheekbone. That was going to leave a mark. So much for not pissing off her owner, whoever the hell that was supposed to be.

"Now, now, son. Let's not be too hard on our host." The owner of the slow, melodious voice seemed to just appear next to Samuel. Apparently it was a pretty neat trick because all the other vampires looked impressed, too. "After all, humans have such limited comprehension." His dark hair was a contrast to the rest of the vampire gang. Emma wasn't really sure what to think of him and neither was Ellen.

"Ellen, you look so surprised," Ryan said, twisting her arm harder. She bit her lip to keep from whimpering. "We should introduce him to you, right? Ellen Hayes, meet Samuel's sire. He's two hundred twelve years old."

"You may call me Joshua for however long you may be alive tonight." His eyes turned to Emma again. "You reek of our kind. Who have you been consorting with?"

"The only vampire I know is Ellen," she told him. Ellen seemed to sniff the air and her eyes widened. There was vampire scent all over Emma but it wasn't hers.

"Maybe I'm the only one you know about," Ellen whispered.

The front door crashed open just as Emma realized she was more surrounded by the paranormal than she'd ever would have guessed. In stepped Mick St. John closely followed by Josef Konstantin. And she was willing to bet that both of them were vampires, too. Josef's eyes brushed over her face and he saw the beginnings of a bruise. His eyes immediately changed to white. Emma gulped. Oh, yeah, definitely a vampire.

"Apologies for the damage," Joshua said. He had seen the elder vampire's gaze turn fierce and knew what that meant. The last thing he needed was an enemy of his age. With surprising gentleness he ushered Emma over to Josef. "My Samuel has a short temper at times." Josef didn't say anything. He only tugged Emma into his arms, eyes fixed on the other vampires.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're all responsible for the death of Michael Larson," Mick said. His face still looked human but it was only a matter of time until the lot of them came to blows. There was simply no way for this to end peacefully.

"Yet another mystery the humans will never solve," Joshua said, not nearly as gracious to Mick as he had been to Josef. "What does that matter to us?" Then he sighed. "I can tell you are not going to let us take our Ellen and leave." His eyes turned to Josef. "But what of you? That human in your arms is safe now but she may not be if this turns violent."

"I can take care of myself," Emma snapped, pushing out of Josef's protective embrace. "And you bunch of undead bastards aren't taking Ellen anywhere."

"That about sums it up," Mick said. Then they started to move far too fast for Emma's eyes to follow. She ducked into the kitchen. The sound of fists on flesh was the only recognizable thing. She heard Ellen shriek and then a male groan of pain. Cautiously she peaked around the corner. Joshua and his little gang had formed a good strategy. While the older vampire singled out Mick, the other three had gone for Josef. Sometimes strength really was in numbers. Both of her friends, although she used the term loosely, were having a rough time. But where was…?

"Oh, God," Emma whispered. Ellen was on the ground, a stake protruding from her chest. She was gone. Emma closed her eyes a moment and missed what happened next. Ryan and Nicholas managed to knock Josef down, holding him while Samuel pinned him with his knees and rammed a stake through his chest.

It was the soft choking sounds that got her attention. Josef, on the ground, pinned there like an insect made to be displayed. Something inside her snapped.

"Take his head," Samuel told Nicholas as he and Ryan turned to assist their sire. Nicholas took off his coat and unsheathed the long blade he'd had strapped to his back. It had been meant for Ellen but Josef would do just as well. Four hundred years and all it had taken to end him was one fool hardy, green-eyed woman. He watched helplessly as the blade was hefted up.

A gun shot echoed in his ears. Between Nicholas's eyes was a hole. Josef could smell the putrid stench of the silver even from his place on the ground. Nicholas fell, his body shaking from reaction to the deadly metal. Footsteps came toward him and then there was Emma leaning over him. She looked as surprised to see he was still alive as he was.

"Aren't stakes supposed to kill vampires?" she wondered aloud. Then she realized the gasping, stunned vampire on the ground was probably in pain so she jerked the stake out of his chest. Josef groaned.

"Thank you." He glanced at Nicholas. "Nice shot." Emma smiled weakly, deciding not to mention that she'd been aiming for his chest. All she'd thought about while getting the gun out from where Ellen had hidden it under the kitchen sink was that she couldn't let those bastards live. Later she'd have time for denial but right then she knew that Josef meant more to her than she cared to admit.

"I've got to help Ellen," she said hurriedly, shoving the gun into his hands and scurrying across the floor to stay out of the way of the whirling dance of vampires battling in her living room. Ryan threw something at Ellen's unmoving body. Her friend's skirt immediately caught fire. "Shit!" She tugged the stake out as fast as she could. Ellen came up screaming. Vampires were extremely flammable and the skin on her legs was disintegrating fast.

"Help! Help!" Emma tugged off her jacket and tried to kill the blaze by smothering it. It worked, in a sense. Ellen was no long on fire but Emma's couch was. Then the coffee table. Then the rug.

"Oh, _shit_." Emma tugged her vampire friend off the floor. Ellen's legs were all but useless clumps of bone. The two of them struggled to reach the door. Flames danced across her vision. A few more gunshots went off and Emma assumed the silver bullets were poisoning the other vampires now. Finally she saw Mick's face clearly. "Mick! Help me get her out of here!" He scooped Ellen off the floor.

"Get out of here, Emma. The whole place is going up like it's tinder," Mick shouted over the roar of fire.

"Where's Josef?"

"He's dealing with Joshua. Don't worry, he'll be finished in a second." Emma glanced behind her and nearly screamed. Mick hadn't been kidding about Josef being done in a second.

"Move," Josef commanded and for once she obeyed. The four of them hurried out of the house that was quickly going up in flames. But Emma paused on the steps, her eyes widening.

"Mom." Josef heard her speak and, confused, turned to look at her. But she was running back into the house.

"Dammit," he swore, making to go after her but the fire had spread. It had caught the door and trying to go through that would be suicide. Through the smoke he could see Emma running up the stairs. He had to find another way inside. Fast.

She was coughing hard by the time she reached her bedroom. This was crazy and insane. She shouldn't have come back inside. She should run away now and forget it. Emma didn't. Instead she dropped down on her knees and reached under her bed, drawing out a wooden box. Having got her prize she tried to go back to the stairs but the fire was eating them up fast. She would never make it through there.

Glass shattered in her room. Emma ran back to see Josef brushing off the tiny fragments of glass that clung to him. It took her a minute to really process that he'd crashed through her second story window and by that time he'd crossed the room and picked her up. "Could you just once listen to what I have to say?" he growled. Emma clung to him. She had a really bad feeling about what he was going to do next.

Josef leaped out the window and came down solidly on the ground. He didn't stop moving. She was carried away a red Lamborghini, stuck in beside Ellen who was unsuccessfully trying to hide her pain and then driven away.

All the time she watched as her home was consumed by the inferno.


	12. The Recovery

Chapter Eleven: The Recovery

"Please, Emma, talk to distract me." Ellen's eyes were filled with pain as she stared out the window of Josef's car. Apparently the plan was to put as much space between them and the fire as possible. Through the numb feeling speeding into Emma's bones, she recognized the route to Josef's place in the hills. Unfortunately this meant Ellen would have to wait for her blood. Blood she needed to heal.

"I'm glad I'm insured," Emma said. Her arms were wrapped around the box she'd rescued from her burning home. She pressed it tightly against her chest.

"I'm so sorry," Ellen whispered, glancing at her friend. "It's all my fault."

"Technically Emma is the one who harbored a vampire who was being hunted by other dangerous vampires so she took the risk and paid for it." Josef glanced in the rearview mirror. He could see Emma staring at thin air. She'd barely moved since he'd put her in the car. He was hoping for some sort of reaction but she didn't speak. That was not a good sign.

Emma was concentrating on the feel of wood scratching against her arms. She just had to wait until she was alone to let out some of the emotion pent up inside. For now she'd just think about other things. For example, she needed a place to stay. Sheryl probably wouldn't mind putting up with her while she searched for a new home. Emma bit back a sigh. Everything had gone up in smoke. She needed new clothes, shoes, underwear, a toothbrush and so many other things. Of course she'd have to talk to the police about what happened although she guessed the current plan was to pretend she hadn't been there at the time.

"Emma?" She blinked, looking over at Ellen. Apparently she'd been talking. Her eyes fell to the vampire's charred legs. She couldn't imagine the pain that caused.

"Yeah?"

"We're here." The door on Emma's side opened and Josef's arms came around her. She resisted at first but it was pointless. His strength was about ten times her own. Mick took care of Ellen and carried her into the house. Josef probably had some stored blood for her.

"I can walk," Emma pointed out. Josef's eyes sharpened on her face.

"Considering what you've put me through tonight, I think the least you could do is indulge me." She looked away from him. It wasn't as if she'd deliberately set the whole thing up so he could get stabbed through the chest. That wound still hadn't healed. He probably needed blood, too.

Josef was a vampire. Well, that had been a startling revelation. Now that she thought about it the truth began to make sense. After living for a certain number of years, Emma might be obsessed with surrounding herself with wonderful and interesting things, too. And be completely arrogant.

He set her down in his kitchen, although she doubted he used it for much cooking, and got ice out of the freezer. Emma wondered what he was doing until he gently pressed an icepack against her cheek. That was when she remembered the bruise that was going to turn lots of different colors. She let out a hiss. "You're lucky that's the worst you were hurt." Emma glared at him.

"Look, can you just say what you have to say and then stop hinting at how stupid I am?" He smirked.

"By rights you should be dead. I can understand why you wanted to protect Ellen and, on that note, it is a sad day when a vampire is reduced to begging aid from a human." Emma swatted his hand away and held the icepack herself.

"This coming from the guy who nearly got his head chopped off," she muttered. Josef looked insulted. He felt more than a little humiliated by the fact three vampires under the age of seventy had gotten the better of him.

"The really stupid thing was running back into the house." He leaned against one of the decadent marble counters, crossing his arms. "Any explanation for that one?"

"I had to get something irreplaceable," she replied shortly. His eyes fell to the box resting on her lap.

"And that is?" he asked.

"None of your concern." She looked away from him. "I should call Sheryl and ask if I can stay with her."

"That'll blow your alibi to smithereens," Josef pointed out. He'd find out what had been so irreplaceable later. For now he had Emma's stubbornness to contend with.

"Alibi?" she asked, lifting a brow in question.

"When people start asking questions, you can say you were here. You spent the night." She scowled at him.

"Well, I'm not looking forward to the assumptions." Emma set down the icepack and got up. "But I'll go along with it for now. All I want is a shower and something that doesn't smell like smoke to sleep in."

"You're very agreeable when you've been traumatized," Josef noted, leading her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Emma disliked the modern feel to the house. It looked like something that should be in an interior decorating magazine. Perfectly arranged, stylish and, to her, very cold.

He chose to put her in his room. After all, he didn't use the bed for anything except recreational purposes and his freshies wouldn't dare come inside unless invited. Josef really didn't want Emma meeting his food. It would give her an even better reason to push him away. "The bathroom is right through there," Josef told her, pointing to another door in the room. "You can borrow one of my shirts from the closet." She looked at the one door he hadn't identified.

"And in there?" He smiled at her.

"In there's my freezer."

"Freezer," she said slowly. "Oh. Right. Ellen slept in ice." Emma felt like she was going to leave a great black mark in the thick white carpet. There was a dresser made of a light-colored wood along with a bedside table. The walls were creamy and decorated with a few paintings. One of them looked like a Picasso but she really hoped she was wrong. Emma didn't think she could sleep in a room that held something that priceless.

Then there was the bed. It was king-sized and very impressive. The coverlet was the color of burnished gold. The pillows looked softer than clouds. Emma wasn't going to have to fight to go to sleep. "Thanks," she said quietly, moving towards the bathroom. She wanted the taste of smoke out of her mouth badly. Josef nodded then left her to it. He needed to feed and Emma's neck was a little too tempting.

There was one place Emma didn't mind luxury and that was in the bathroom. Apparently Josef agreed because his bathroom was beautifully done. Marble tiles, optimum lighting, a bathtub with Jacuzzi settings and a shower with enough room for five made up Emma's temporary sanctuary. It was a pity she wasn't in the mood for a bath but she needed to scrub the smoke off, not lounge. Leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor, she set the water temperature to boiling hot and stepped in.

Part of her didn't like the idea of using the things Josef used but a larger part of her wanted to be clean. She scoured her arms with soap, working up a thick white foam. Water pounded on her skin, turning it red with irritation. Emma breathed in and steam filled her mouth. It was warmer, gentler than smoke. For some reason it made her think of when Josef had kissed her.

Afterwards she dried off and wrapped her hair up in a towel to keep it from dripping all over the floor. Emma couldn't smell the fire anymore. Instead she smelled Josef. The scents she hadn't really noticed while being with him hung in the air, clinging to her skin. She could remember what Samuel had said about her smelling like an older vampire's plaything. Maybe she had been. Maybe Josef picked out random mortal women to amuse himself with during his long life.

She mulled that over while she went through his closet. There were more designer labels in there than on Rodeo Drive. "It shouldn't be this hard to find something that isn't silk in a man's closet," she grumbled, pushing hangers out of the way. Finally she found a sea green shirt that was a nice, soft material that wouldn't be ruined forever if her hair dripped on it. Emma tried to block out the little voice in her head saying how intimate all this was. It was just a shirt, not a promise to love each other forever. Besides, he was a vampire. There was no way she'd get involved with him now. Not that there had been before, of course. Now there was absolutely no way instead of just _no _way.

Emma's mental ramblings were interrupted when she heard a groan coming from outside the room. She frowned. Was that Ellen? Was she still in pain? Emma walked out the door, following the sound. She should have fed by now and be all healed up. Or did it work slower than she thought it did?

A door was partially cracked open and Emma could hear some kind of sound. She wasn't sure exactly what. Sort of animalistic but not hostile. She peaked inside, a bad feeling at the pit of her stomach.

The woman in Josef's arms was beautiful. Stunningly attractive features, long and vivid red hair and a perfect body made Emma feel like a mutt next to a purebred dog. Her expression was familiar. She was fairly sure that was how she'd looked when Josef had been at her own neck. His arms tightened on her body and the woman whimpered. Then Emma realized something. Josef wasn't kissing her. He was feeding.

Nausea washed over her and she ran back to the bathroom. She just prayed she'd make it to the toilet.

His senses were especially sharp when feeding. Everything was more intense. The fresh blood in his mouth, the satiny skin beneath his hands and lips and… That _scent_. It was him but not him. Feminine, a hint of clay. Josef left abruptly. Emma had seen him feeding. As if she hadn't seen enough for one night.

He found her leaning over the toilet, body wracked by dry heaves. Emma hadn't had any food since lunch so there was nothing in her stomach to come up. She was thankful for that. A hand touched her back and she shivered. "Sorry," she murmured, eyes closed. "I just… I just…"

"You're only human," Josef told her. She looked very human there, queasy and pale. Emma giggled. It was a high, unnerving sound. She covered her mouth and realized her hand was shaking.

"Yeah, I'm human. I used to think that was the only option. Then Ellen showed up in my shop sitting in a pool of ice and it changed." Emma sat down and leaned against the wall. "It wouldn't bother me normally, the whole blood thing. It's just… seeing that on top of everything else pushed me over the edge." Josef sat down beside her. He noticed that her hair was still dripping and she was naked beneath his shirt. That would explain part of her shivering. Josef didn't keep his home very warm.

"Are you cold?" he asked. She looked at him, meaning to answer, but then her eyes dropped to his chest. Emma touched the hole left over by the stake. There was no other proof of what had happened to him.

"Christ," she whispered. "I don't know how much more I can take. I've always thought I was open-minded but…" Emma shook her head. "This goes way beyond what I thought was possible."

"You haven't adjusted to it yet?" Josef asked, raising a brow.

"I haven't exactly had a lot of time to absorb it," Emma snapped, glaring at him. "Or much of an opportunity. I had to try to save Ellen and then there was you distracting me and then four vampires came into my house and then my house burned down! I'm sorry if seeing your perfectly healed stab wound it throwing me for a loop."

"I was distracting you?" She rolled her eyes.

"Your ego never ceases to amaze me. Did you even hear the rest of what I said?" Josef smiled.

"Apparently you've gotten over the trauma." Emma moved to smack his chest but he caught her wrist, pulling her onto his lap. Her eyes widened.

"It's easy to forget how fast you are." Josef chuckled.

"You haven't seen anything yet." In a blur of movement he went from sitting on the bathroom floor to standing in his bedroom with Emma in his arms. Her fingers had locked on his collar, knuckles white.

"Okay," she breathed out. "Dizzy and disoriented."

"I had that effect on you before," he reminded her. She let out a weak laugh.

"It's not exactly the same thing." Josef leaned in and sniffed her hair.

"That's a good scent for you."

"It smells like you," she pointed out. Emma frowned suddenly. "That reminds me of something. Samuel said I smelled like I belonged to an old vampire. What exactly was that supposed to mean?" Josef could remember the rage that had sprung from instinct when he'd seen the damage inflicted by another vampire on her face. Joshua had been right to apologize for it. Harming another vampire's property was risky business, especially when they were as old as Josef. However, he couldn't tell Emma that. He knew she wouldn't take it well.

"They could smell me on you," he told her simply. "Not unreasonable, considering what we had been doing." Emma blushed.

"So if we… Well, any vampire will know if we've been together?"

"Are you planning on it happening?" Josef asked, a wicked grin curving his lips. She snorted.

"Hardly."

"That's a shame. I am."

"Okay, that's it. Let me down," Emma said, wriggling in his arms. Josef dropped her gently on the bed. He eyed her bare legs. There really was nothing like a dancer's legs. Long, slim and firm, it was easy to imagine them around his waist. She saw where his eyes were and blushed again. "Just go to your freezer." Surprisingly, he did as he was told. It probably had something to do with the fact that it was nearly dawn and after being staked and nearly burned to death, his immortal body was in need of rest.

"Sleep well, Emma."

"Uh, Josef?" she said tentatively. He turned to look at her. "I was just wondering what the deal was with that… woman."

"She's food," he told her, wincing internally at the thought of her forming opinions on just what his live-in happy meals did for him.

"Anything else?" she prodded.

"And they're entertaining," he admitted, sliding his hands into his pockets. Emma nodded then bit her lip nervously.

"And what am I?" Josef smirked.

"Trouble."


	13. The Compromise

Chapter Twelve: The Compromise

Emma looked around for something wooden to break. There was always the mahogany coffee table. She'd snap one of the legs off and ram it into Josef's chest. A tiny smile crept onto her face at that mental image.

"You needed somewhere to stay and I found you one." She spun around, hands on her hips and fire in her eyes.

"Here's the translated version. You decided to stick me in one of your many luxurious getaways so you'd have easy access and I'd be dependent on you." Josef rolled his eyes.

"You're overreacting," he muttered. She glared harder.

"Overreacting? Well, I don't know why. You just did exactly what I told you not to do. We went over this with the car situation. I didn't mind you loaning one to me until I realized it was a freaking Porsche!"

"I still don't see the problem." His hands were in the pockets of his pressed black slacks and his expression was more annoyed than actually interested in the conversation. That really annoyed Emma. He was such a corporate jackass.

"Fine. I'll give you a short list of the things I don't want." She held out her hand and began to tick them off on her fingers. "I don't want a glamorous penthouse, expensive foreign cars or designer labels. I'm throwing that last one in just in case you decide to buy me clothes."

"I wouldn't dream of trying to take you out of denim," Josef said with a lecherous grin, raking his eyes over her jean-clad hips.

"You're not going to get out of this by trying to make it sexual, so you might as well give up." Emma went for the door, planning to call a cab and go back to Sheryl's place. Josef caught her around the waist and pulled her tightly against his chest.

"It occurs to me that I haven't kissed you in nearly a week." Her eyes widened. The worst part was she knew he could hear her heart racing.

"Josef, you're in my personal bubble," she whispered, trying to pull back. Josef wrapped her long braid around his wrist and tilted her head to the side. She knew where he was looking. He'd been looking there every time they'd been together during the last week. That vein in her neck, pulsing with the liquid he needed to live. His lips brushed over it tenderly. She was torn between screaming 'Bite me!' and 'I'm not food!' when he did that. Emma finally went with, "I'm not on the menu." A low chuckle rumbled in his chest.

"Don't worry. I've fed," he murmured against her skin. "Now hold still while I seduce you." Emma's protest was cut off when he kissed her. He was going slow this time, drinking her in. She went up on her toes to even their heights and ran her hands through his neatly trimmed hair. Somehow it was more difficult to remember why she needed to keep him away when he kissed her.

Josef shrugged out of his jacket while Emma pulled his shirt out from beneath his slacks. He nipped gently at her lips, soothing the temporary sting with his tongue. She groaned and her fingers quickened their pace as she unbuttoned his shirt. Josef thought about getting her to the bedroom or even the couch but dismissed it when she pressed a kiss to the hollow of his throat. The floor was carpeted, after all.

He took her down with him. For a moment he had to struggle for control of his instincts. A warm, living woman was lying beneath him with her neck exposed. Even if he didn't need to he wanted to taste her blood. He had saved her life, after all. Vampire law stated she belonged to him. Her body, her blood, her life.

"Josef," she whimpered, reaching up for him. He kissed her again and Emma willingly lost herself to his talented hands. It didn't matter that vampire's had a low body temperature. She felt like she was going to burn up. Everything went into a blur and at first she didn't know what that ringing sound was. Slowly, it sank in that her phone was going off. "I… I need to get…" Her hand went out to try to grab her bag which had dropped about a foot away from them.

"Don't you dare," he snarled. Emma managed to tip the bag over and her phone tumbled out. Josef tried to snatch it but she shifted under him so she was lying on her stomach.

"Hello?" she asked once she'd gotten the phone to her ear.

"Emma, it's Mick." Josef growled, setting his teeth into the back of her neck. She cried out and barely masked the sound as a surprised 'oh!'.

"What's up?"

"Ellen and I just left the police station. Everything's been cleared up. They didn't actually have any evidence that she did it and the intruders in your house made the theory that it was just random gang violence more viable." Josef was dropping kisses down her spine and Emma was having a hard time concentrating.

"Well, that… that is great news," she managed, fingers digging into the carpet. "Can you drop Ellen off at the café? I'll be there in about twenty minutes to walk her through her new job."

"Twenty minutes?" Josef snapped, head rearing up from his work on her back. Emma could practically hear Mick's frown over the phone.

"Wait a minute, is that Josef?"

"Yeah, yeah, we were just looking at an apartment but it's not going to work out so we're leaving," Emma said, trying to wriggle out from under Josef. He went for the phone and the wily plastic slid out from her grasp.

"She's going to take a lot longer than twenty minutes," he growled into the phone before pitching it across the room.

"The hell I will!" she retorted, rolling over and pushing at his chest. They'd lost more clothes this time and the chill across her skin made her realize that her shirt had joined the fallen. "Dammit, Josef, get off!" His eyes flashed to white and she just glared. "Don't get all vampire on me, you manipulative bat." The insult was strange enough to distract him. She got out from under his body and retrieved her shirt.

"Manipulative bat?" Emma pulled her shirt over her head, deciding not to respond. "Emma." Apparently he'd moved because she could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. She trembled and felt herself beginning to slip.

"No!" She hurried to the door. "You stay in your corner, mister." Emma looked at him. His hair was mussed from her fingers and his bare chest was, frankly, gorgeous. That sight would be keeping her up nights. He smirked and she had the disconcerting feeling that he knew what she was thinking. "Oh, get your clothes on," she muttered, her face turning red as she hurried out the door.

The last week had been busy, to say the least. She had anticipated fighting with insurance people trying to prove she'd burned down her house to collect the money. However, one mention of Josef's name had magically fixed her life. Although she doubted it had been quite that magical. He'd probably made some calls. Emma felt a little uncomfortable with that but at the same time grateful that she'd been spared a few complications. If only she'd known the real interfering had only begun.

Since her car had caught fire, what with it being so close to the house, and subsequently blown up she'd been without wheels. Josef offered to loan her one of his own cars. That had seemed reasonable until she'd seen the extremely expensive Porsche sitting outside her store. Thus argument number one had taken off. At least that one just ended with her chucking the keys at his face and walking away.

Then he decided to help her find a place to stay. Emma was currently sleeping on a cot in her work room at the café. She didn't mind it much although she missed having a mattress. Sheryl had offered her the guest room at her house but Emma was sensitive about sleeping in high class joints. It was silly but a problem nonetheless. Instead she just showered at Sheryl's and slept at the café. Josef, of course, popped up out of nowhere and told her he'd found a place for her to stay. Since it was Josef, she'd been immediately suspicious. He took her to see a penthouse she couldn't ever afford and all suspicions were confirmed.

He was controlling, overpowering and extremely dangerous. It didn't help that she also wanted to jump his bones. Emma got out of the cab, paid the driver and went into Clay Café. There she promptly ran into Josef. "How in the hell did you get here before I did?"

"Vampire," he reminded her. "And my car is faster than any cab." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, whatever. I have work to do." Emma waved at Ellen who was sitting out of the afternoon sun's rays.

"I have a proposition for you," Josef said. She glared at him and he chuckled. "Not that kind. I want you to make something for me that would take at least a month of work." Emma frowned, puzzled.

"Why?"

"I'm not done yet," he reminded her. "While you're making this for me I'd like you to live in my penthouse."

"Hell, no."

"Not done yet," he said again. "I'd also be willing to pay you a really absurd amount of money to make whatever you'll be making in that environment." Emma lifted a brow.

"You're trying to buy me off."

"No, I'm trying to make a business deal," Josef corrected her.

"I wouldn't agree to that with any of my normal customers," she pointed out. He just smiled.

"I'm not normal and you don't have a place to stay at the moment. It will only be for a month. After that, all living arrangements are up to you." After that month, Josef expected he'd have tasted more than her blood. Hopefully she'd consider moving in with him.

"All right," she agreed reluctantly. "I'll do it. But it'll be my choice of subject."

"The last thing I would do is dictate to an artist," Josef said with a charming smile. Emma snorted.

"You'd do anything if it suited you." He captured her hand as she started to pull away and kissed the skin right above the point where her pulse was easy to feel.

"I'll see you tonight, Emma."

"Okay," she said, feeling that dizzy and disoriented wave again. A minute after he'd left Emma blinked. "Wait, what?"


	14. The Silence

Chapter Thirteen: The Silence

Emma adjusted the strap of her stuffed duffel bag and stared apprehensively at the door of her new home. Maybe home was too serious a word. Her new abode. Yeah, that worked. She fiddled with the key which had mysteriously appeared in her work room with a note that read, 'You'll be needing this.' God, this was a bad idea. She should have told him no. The cot wasn't all that bad, after all.

"Come on, Em, just walk inside and face the music," she mumbled to herself. Emma unlocked the door and cautiously stepped inside. Still elegant, she noted. Emma seriously hoped nothing in this place would be hard to replace if she broke it. As good as she was with clay, outside of creation she became a total klutz with breakables. That included bones. When she was six she decided she wanted to live in a tree. Half way up she changed her mind and fell down, breaking her arm in three places. That made her realize that deciding not to do what she'd committed herself to usually ended in painful ways.

Her first clue that something was up came from the excellent sound system. R and B music filled up the penthouse. Emma was willing to bet she wasn't alone. She carefully made her way through the living room then turned the corner into the kitchen. Josef looked up from the glass of red wine he was pouring. He smiled.

"You haven't looked that shocked since your house burned down." Emma smiled weakly.

"Yeah, well, that was less strange than this is." She looked around. The table was actually set and there was food waiting for her. Italian food if her ordinary human nose was any good and her eyesight still worked. There wasn't a plate in front of the other seat, though. Just a glass of liquid that was definitely not wine. Candles were lit and Josef was wearing jeans. That last part probably shocked her the most. He looked like an ordinary guy. Someone she might actually date.

"I did tell you I would see you tonight," he reminded her. She nodded, eyes still wide. This was all extremely, seductively normal. It was almost as if Josef was tempting her, showing her exactly what she might have if she would just give in.

"Oh, you're good," she said at last. "You're really good. Seriously, you're so good it's almost evil." He smirked.

"I do my best." Emma reached for the wine he'd poured. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

"Okay, so where did you get the food?" she asked. He feigned a hurt expression.

"You don't think I can cook?" Emma lifted a brow.

"Right. You can cook. I've got some seafront property in Arizona for sale, too." Josef leaned against the counter and shrugged.

"All right, I don't cook. I am however familiar with the names of the best restaurants in town that are willing to provide meals to go if paid well enough." Emma nodded.

"That's what I thought." She took a sip of wine and forced herself to relax. "You know what? I'm just going to go along with this for now."

"Oh, good. I was afraid I might have to tie you to the chair and force feed you," Josef said. He pulled out the chair for her and smiled. "Your compliance makes everything much less difficult."

"Well, damn, I hate making life too easy for you," Emma said as she sat down. When he took a sip of blood she averted her eyes. She hadn't entirely gotten over the blood issue. It made her feel stupid because it really wasn't that big of a deal. She just felt like screaming hysterically because reality was splitting in two. Emma sighed. Reality for her was going to have to become more flexible. "I never got around to asking how old you are." Josef smirked.

"Old enough to lie about it."

"Oh, come on," Emma said. "You don't look more than twenty-eight. However, since Joshua was trying to get out of fighting with you and he was over two hundred then you're older than that. How about three hundred forty-two?"

"Older," Josef said, taking another sip of blood and watching her face for a reaction. This time there wasn't one. She seemed more interested in the conversation than his blood habit. That was a good sign. "I was born in 1599." Her eyes widened. Emma hurried to do the calculations in her head.

"So you're four hundred nine years old?" She let out a breath when he nodded. "And I thought turning thirty was frightening."

"Age is different for vampires," he told her. "The longer you live, the more dangerous you become."

"Sort of like leveling up in a video game," Emma said thoughtfully, taking another sip of wine. "So you become harder to kill? And what exactly does kill a vampire? I noticed the stake thing was a myth."

"Stakes paralyze us, along with silver. However, poison us with enough silver and we will die. Decapitation and cremation will work, too." Josef looked at her plate. "Your food's getting cold."

"Oh, thanks," Emma said. She'd completely forgotten that there was anything there. Josef earned a few points for ordering meatballs and spaghetti instead of something more complex. "So what was it like growing up in the early seventeenth century?"

"I find that the past is too far away to remember." Well, that was a definite no to the proposed trip down memory lane.

"Okay, then. What's your favorite color?" Emma bit into one of the meatballs and almost moaned. Now that was good. She'd have to get the address of the restaurant Josef had mentioned.

"My favorite color?" he asked. "Are you filling out a profile?" She frowned at him.

"Well, you killed all the questions I had about your past and whatever you were up to today at the office is going to bore me to tears so I thought I'd pick something random and harmless."

"I've actually done some very interesting things in my office," Josef informed her. He looked at her mouth and smirked. "One of those very things is suddenly coming to mind."

"Yeah, well, keep it to yourself," Emma mumbled, looking away from him and concentrating on her meal. Aside from that, she thought the evening went rather well. The two of them had never really talked before. She ate her pasta, he drank his blood and they chatted. Even so, she wasn't about to let him think he'd won any more ground. "You've probably got some sort of party to go to with lots of women ready to bare their necks in offering." Josef fought the urge to smile at her tone. There was just a hint of jealousy.

"Decorative toys," he said lightly as he refilled her wine glass. Emma glared at him from her place at the sink.

"Oh, that's very complimentary to women everywhere."

"They've never complained," Josef pointed out. He could practically taste the sizzle of temper in her blood. It was perverse but he loved making her angry. She did such wild things.

"Of course they don't complain. They want to keep getting paid or taken care of or whatever." Emma scowled as she scrubbed her plate clean. Josef ran a finger gently across her neck.

"I don't suppose you'd open a vein if I paid you." She knew it was a bad idea but she did it before her better judgment could intercede. With an easy twist she pointed the nozzle she'd been spraying her plate with at Josef. He blinked then looked down at the wet spot on his chest. "Oh, you shouldn't have done that." Josef moved in a blur, snatching the hose and aiming it at her face. Emma shrieked with laughter and fought against his grip.

"Josef, stop!" she said through the giggles. He leaned in and teasingly nipped her ear.

"You'll have to beg, mortal."

"Guess again, fang face," Emma said, getting her hand on the nozzle and changing the angle of the water. Josef laughed as she managed to drench him. Somewhere in between the teasing and the laughter, they started to kiss. Emma couldn't remember who started it. In a moment the battle was forgotten as Josef pulled off his wet shirt and Emma feasted at his mouth. Her fingers tangled in his wet hair while he pressed her against the kitchen counter. This felt different than the other kisses. He'd always been in control, driving her crazy. Now they'd both lost their minds.

Emma pulled back even as her rebellious hands slid over his damp chest. "I should go get us some towels." She slipped out of his arms and hurried for what she guessed was the linen closet. Josef sighed, watching her collect that burning need and hide it away. Emma tossed him a thick white towel. "I'll put your clothes in the dryer once you get undressed." Then she hurried away to avoid watching that process.

When she came back into the living room, a fire had been lit and Josef was reclining on the Victorian loveseat with only a towel around his waist. Emma silently gathered the clothes he'd left on the kitchen floor. It was a mess in there. She'd have to use pretty big towels to get everything dry. "I noticed that there were clothes in my closet," she told him, sure that he could hear her from her place in the utility room.

"You don't have to wear any of them," he shouted to her. Emma turned on the dryer and headed back into the living room.

"They looked new." Josef opened his eyes slowly. She'd unbraided her hair to get out all the excess water. It was damp and wavy, glowing in the firelight. The towel she had securely knotted around her body covered just enough to drive him mad.

"They were new," he told her quietly. It was as that song had said all those weeks ago. He was struck by her.

"I noticed a few designer labels." Emma moved toward him. There was something in his eyes she couldn't make out. Something she hadn't seen before. "Do you remember that list of things I don't do?" Josef reached out and tugged her down onto the loveseat with him. "Josef!"

"Shh," he murmured. "Just be quiet for a moment." Emma wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to get off him and storm away, to put the barriers back up. But then… She shifted so that her head was lying on his chest, her legs tangled with his. They were alone, the only light in the room was the fire and Josef felt comfortable beneath her body. He stroked her hair, his fingertips occasionally straying across the bare skin of her shoulders. For a long time neither of them said anything. The silence felt more natural than words. In it she was warm and Josef's arms were where she belonged. Whether it was really true or not didn't matter. It was true in that quiet world. "I don't get involved with mortals." Emma blinked, a little startled to hear his voice.

"Then what are you doing with me?" He glanced down and met her moss green eyes. Josef touched her cheek, wondering where centuries of hard won bitterness had gone.

"I'm breaking the rules." Emma leaned forward and kissed him, the slightest brush of lips. Then she settled back on his chest and neither of them spoke for the rest of the night. Josef couldn't. Somewhere in the silence, he'd fallen in love with another mortal woman. Maybe Josef Konstantin would be luckier than Charles Fitzgerald. Maybe he would be able to keep Emma for the rest of his immortal life.

He doubted it.


	15. The Avoidance

Chapter Fourteen: The Avoidance

Mick reclined in one of Josef's high-backed chairs, staring out at the view of the city. The older vampire wouldn't stay on the phone together although he was probably wishing he could avoid the impending questions. The sun was beginning to set. Beth was probably with Emma in her apartment for their girls only 'men suck' night. Mick wasn't entirely unconcerned by the title of their get-together.

"All right," Josef said, putting down his phone. "What did you want to ask?"

"Why have you been avoiding Emma?" Josef's left hand twitched slightly but aside from that there was no visible reaction.

"How did you know about that?"

"Beth told me," Mick said. "She and Emma have gotten close, probably because they can talk to each other about what we are." Josef grunted and looked away. "So, why are you pushing her away?"

"She's human," Josef replied shortly. "In a few decades she'll be dead. I won't." Mick raised a brow.

"Since when has that mattered?" he asked. "I thought all this was about a business deal and wanting a challenge." Josef stared intently at the surface of his desk. At first Mick couldn't believe what his instincts were telling him. He'd seen that look on so many faces, even on his own. That lost, pained expression when thinking of a woman he could never have was on his friend's face. "You're in love with her."

"Don't be absurd," he muttered, balling his hand into a tight fist.

"Josef, you've got the same look on your face that you do when you think of Sarah," Mick told him. Then something else occurred to him. "This is about Sarah, too, isn't it? You feel like you're betraying her."

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Scooby Doo."

"Then explain it to me," Mick said, folding his hands across his stomach and leaning back. Josef drummed his fingers against the wood.

"I was never going to make the same mistake I made with Sarah," he said quietly. "She was an anomaly, the one true love people talk about. Then I lost her."

"Whatever happened to the possibility that she might wake up?" Mick asked. Josef smiled wryly.

"I think you and I both know that if it hasn't happened after fifty years it's unlikely that it ever will." He ran a hand through his hair. It made him think of Emma and the way she would grip his hair when he kissed her. The past week of avoiding her had made him realize that practically anything could remind him of Emma. "I don't have much control where Emma is concerned. For a vampire my age, that's a dangerous thing."

"So the humble freshie makes you nervous. That's kind of cute," Mick teased, smiling at his friend. This wasn't a position he thought he'd ever find himself in. Josef in love, now _that _was an anomaly.

"Ha ha," Josef muttered. "She'll get used to not seeing me. After all, she's been very clear about not wanting me around."

"Beth mentioned that she misses you," Mick told him lightly. He enjoyed his friend's reaction immensely.

"She… she what?" he asked, flabbergasted. It was a bit humiliating to feel like a high school lad hearing word that his crush liked him back. At the same time he couldn't care less.

"She misses you. Emma wouldn't admit it but Beth could tell. Reporter senses are nearly as good as vampire ones."

"It can't end well," Josef said halfheartedly. The two vampires knew he would probably be at her door the next night, if not sooner. This was Josef, after all. He liked a challenge and nothing was more challenging than a vampire in love with a human.

Meanwhile, Beth pressed her face into Emma's pillow and moaned. Emma snickered as took another sip of wine. The two of them were scantily clad after a failed tango lesson conducted by Emma under the influence of two glasses of wine. It had been good exercise but Beth hadn't taken to it well. She was better at standing still and swaying, or so she claimed.

"I could kill for your bed," she said, rolling over. "It's so fluffy and warm and comfortable." Josef went for size when it came to beds and this one was no exception. It was king-sized with a light blue coverlet and sinfully cuddly pillows.

"Yeah, well, at least you have someone keeping you company," Emma said. Beth snorted.

"I wish. Mick's too noble. After all, he's a vampire and something bad might happen." She stared up at the ceiling. "Makes me wish he was a little more reckless like Josef."

"Oh, please, there's not a reckless bone in Josef's body. Every move is carefully premeditated and then executed." Emma took another sip from her glass, eyes narrowed resentfully.

"Someone's cranky," Beth pretended to whisper.

"I'm not cranky. It doesn't affect me at all if Josef's decided to head for fairer pastures." Yet another angry mouthful of wine went down her throat. Beth sat up.

"Maybe you just made him nervous. What was the last thing you two did together?" Emma's cheeks reddened. She had fallen asleep in his arms again. All week she'd had trouble looking at that loveseat because she kept thinking about how absurdly, blissfully fulfilling it had been to just lie down with someone and say nothing. For a moment she'd almost thought… Well, it didn't matter what she'd almost thought. Clearly none of it had been real.

"Nothing makes Josef nervous," she grumbled. Beth stared into her own wineglass meditatively. She didn't know Josef very well but she knew enough to guess what might be bothering him. If Emma was getting close to him and from the spurned, hurt look in her eyes Beth would say that she was, then Josef would invariably be getting close to Emma. That would probably remind him of the last woman he'd really loved.

"There's something you should know," Beth began, a little unsure as to whether she should be telling Emma this or not. But how likely was it that Josef would ever talk about his past? About as likely as a vampire eating steak. "Josef fell in love with a human once before." Emma stared at Beth intently as she explained what had happened with Sarah. The young, beautiful and comatose immortal lying in a bed in New York at this very moment was the love of Josef's life. _"I don't get involved with mortals."_

"Well, that explains some of it," Emma murmured thoughtfully. Josef was in love with someone else, pining after someone else. One day Sarah would wake up and the two of them would live happily ever after. No wonder Josef had cut his ties to her. "Good thing I heard all this before he really mattered to me."

"And he doesn't really matter to you now?" Beth asked with a touch of disbelief. She could see the hurt in Emma's eyes. All this mattered to her very much.

"No, of course not." The wine tasted bitter on her tongue but she swallowed it anyway. "Besides, there's only room for one of us with dramatic relationships involving a vampire." The two of them laughed although Emma wasn't as enthusiastic about it.

The phone started ringing and Beth scooped it off the bedside table, quickly reading the caller ID. "Who is it?" Emma asked.

"Someone named Brandon Keats," she said, holding out the phone. Emma answered it.

"Brandon? How did you get this number?"

"You left it up on that blackboard in your workroom, remember? Just in case we needed to reach you."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Emma said, rolling her eyes at herself. "Wait, is something wrong? Is it the café?" One of her recurring nightmares involved Clay Café burning to the ground. Her house was just a building but the café was her life. It would be much harder to replace that.

"No, everything's fine. I just wanted to ask you something," Brandon said, his nervousness becoming more apparent. Emma frowned.

"Okay, then. Ask away."

"Would you like to get an early dinner with me tomorrow night? Or… or maybe just drinks? We haven't hung out in a while and I'd like to catch up." Brandon missed seeing her smile at him, too. Ever since he'd stupidly confessed his feelings she'd drawn away from him. Now he was desperate and willing to try anything to have her back in his life.

Emma hesitated. Her immediate reaction was to say no. But why should she? It wasn't as if she was tied down or committed to someone else. Besides, it might be nice to have dinner with someone human. "Sure, that'd be nice. How about you pick me up after I close the store?"

"Great! I mean, yeah, that'd work just fine. I'll see you tomorrow, Em."

"See you tomorrow, Brandon." She hung up the phone and faced Beth's disapproving look. "What?"

"Is it possible you're using one man to forget another?" Emma shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm doing nothing of the kind. Brandon and I are having dinner as friends, nothing more." Beth didn't look very convinced but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Emma had made up her mind.

"I hope that's true for Brandon's sake," she said at last, allowing her head to fall back onto one of the pillows.

"Why?" she asked with a confused expression.

"Because during my experience with Mick and all the other vampires I've bumped into, I've learned one very important thing." Emma met Beth's wise eyes.

"What is that?"

"Vampires don't like to share."


	16. The Mark

Chapter Fifteen: The Mark

Emma had an odd, achy feeling in her chest all evening. She could still laugh and talk but that feeling stayed constant. Dimly she heard Brandon talking as he drove her home. She knew she should be listening but she couldn't seem to care. They'd had a good time. He'd taken her to one of her favorite restaurants and more than once managed to make her laugh. Under ordinary circumstances she would call that a fun date with potential.

"What happened to that Josef guy?" Emma jolted as she turned to stare at Brandon.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, he isn't the kind of person you're usually around and I just wondered if you'd seen him since that night." Actually, Brandon remembered the other man's almost savage look when he'd taken Emma from his arms. That hadn't looked like a business arrangement. It'd looked intimate.

"We bumped into each other a few times but not recently," Emma told him, being deliberately vague. Brandon didn't need to know she'd nearly stripped down and done it with Josef. There was such a thing as too much information.

"Okay, just wondering." The car slowed down. "That's your building? Wow, I didn't realize insurance paid that much." Emma smiled a little.

"No, it's just a temporary situation. A friend loaned the apartment to me while I hunt for something more appropriate." Brandon nodded. That made sense. Emma had grown up with rich people and a few of them had stayed friends. Any one of them could have loaned her the place.

"So how's the new help working out?" he asked as the two of them walked through the front doors and toward the elevators.

"Ellen? Oh, she's fantastic. A little new to some of the soups but very eager to learn." Emma smiled as she thought of how happy Ellen got over the tiniest little thing. The first penny in the tip jar had nearly sent the young vampire into a fit of uncontrolled joy. Working during the day was a little tricky but she took regular blood breaks and napped during the early evening. Emma was glad that she'd managed to help her out in some way.

"I'm glad to hear it," Brandon said, smiling in reaction to Emma's smile. "If you ever need help showing her the ropes, just let me know."

"Yes because Mr. Big Shot Photographer has all the time in the world," she joked. He shrugged modestly.

"I make a living and occasionally have spare time. Who could complain?" The elevator dinged at the top floor and they stepped out. "I'm surprised you haven't gone mad in a place like this." Emma got out her key.

"Well, I wasn't thrilled but I also wasn't about to pass up a roof." Even if she had passed it up at first in favor of a cot. Secretly, she was glad she was housed up in Josef's penthouse instead of at the café. Security was a little better and the mattress was far superior.

Emma stopped at her door. "End of the line," she said, looking at Brandon. She hadn't expected him to kiss her. Honestly, she should have seen it coming but for some reason it just hadn't occurred to her. Emma stayed still as his lips gently moved over hers. It was very sweet but somehow it left her empty. Brandon had none of Josef's intensity. She realized now that she was spoiled for all other kissers. After a man with four hundred years under his belt had pleasured her mouth, no one else could compare. "Thank you," she told him kindly once the kiss had ended. Brandon winced. She had definitely confirmed that he would never be more than a friend.

"My pleasure," he said honestly. Brandon squeezed her hand once more then departed. Emma held in the forlorn sigh that wanted to escape as she unlocked the door and reached for the lights.

Josef stared at her from his seemingly relaxed position on the couch. Every single muscle was tensed as he fought the urge to run after the man he'd heard kissing Emma. If he caught up to him then there was no way the human would survive. Instead he maintained eye contact with Emma.

"Josef," she whispered, eyes wide. Seeing him there brought home just how much she'd missed having his face around. Then she gathered her composure and cleared her throat. "It's good to see you. Now I don't have to file a missing person report." Emma turned away from him and closed her door, making sure it was locked.

"At least you've found ways of entertaining yourself," he noted. Emma shifted awkwardly, her long blue skirt brushing against her legs. She felt insecure around him without her denim armor.

"I felt like having dinner with a friend." Emma took off her coat and hung it up in the closet. Keeping her hands busy seemed to help the nerves.

"There's only one reason your friend isn't dead," Josef informed her quietly. She turned around, unsurprised to find him standing right behind her. Instead of giving in to the shaky feeling in her legs she glared at him.

"Oh really? And what's that?" Josef leaned in, his lips brushing her ear.

"You didn't enjoy his kiss." She jerked back and flattened herself against the closet door. Any space she could get was priceless just then.

"Okay, how did you know about that?"

"I could hear it," Josef explained as he pinned her in place by cutting off the escape routes on either side of her body. "I could hear his lips on yours. I could smell how much he wanted you." He indulged himself by nuzzling her neck, breathing in the citrus and clay. "And I could smell how little you wanted him." Emma shivered. In his black silk shirt and black denim, he was more tempting than the devil.

"Your senses are beginning to seriously freak me out," she whispered and attempted to push him back. Josef didn't budge. For some reason her scent was helping to keep him calm. Since his inner nature was nearly out of control, calmness helped.

"He won't touch you again." Emma nearly agreed when his lips touched the pulse at her neck. He did something to her. He made her feel vulnerable and weak any time he had his arms around her. Angry, she fought it the only way she knew how.

"Brandon can touch me as much as he wants," she retorted, twisting away from him. Josef's head reared up. There wasn't anything human in his eyes as they bled to white. Emma could tell that she'd pushed him too far this time. Instead of humoring the aggravated blood sucker, she'd challenged him. Now she was trapped between a vampire and a hard place.

Emma watched helplessly as his eyes moved from her face to her neck. Had he fed tonight? She didn't know. It probably wouldn't matter if he had. This didn't feel like an 'I'm angry and I'm going to eat you' sort of stare. That wouldn't be nearly as scary as the intense need in his eyes. "Josef," she whispered. He gently touched her cheek, gradually slipping his fingers into her hair.

"Ask me." Emma's eyes drifted shut as he gently kissed her neck. What was she supposed to ask him? To stop? That was it. She needed to ask him to stop. Her mouth opened but all that came out was a soft moan as Josef's other hand slid under her blouse to stroke her bare skin.

"Josef," she whimpered, clinging to him now instead of pushing. His fangs scraped her throat.

"Ask me." Emma tried to make her voice work, to say the impossible thing she never thought she would say.

"Bite me, Josef. Please." He didn't wait for anything else. Abruptly he sank his fangs into her skin and blood filled his mouth. It was warm, rich and filled with the taste of her life. There were traces of spice and a bitter sweetness like that of dark chocolate.

At first it hurt, like twin needles had been jabbed into her neck. Then the sensations began. An agonizing pleasure ripped through her body. She could hear herself gasping but couldn't control the sound. As her body nourished Josef she wondered if he would kill her or let her live. The sane part of her knew he would never hurt her. Even then the fact that he controlled her existence, just for that moment, bonded her to him.

He drew back before he could take too much and swiped his tongue over the open wound. Emma held onto his shoulders, her head still spinning. "Oh," was all she managed to say. Josef's eyes and teeth went back to normal so that when he smirked it was not nearly as disconcerting as it might have been.

"Emma," he murmured, gently nuzzling her cheek. "You are delicious." She let out a weak laugh.

"Thank you. I guess O negative is particularly tasty." Emma touched the place on her neck that was still tingling from Josef's mouth. She looked at her fingers and noticed the blood. "I should get a bandage or something." He took her hand then gently licked her fingers, efficiently cleaning away the blood. It was sexy and gross at the same time.

"I'll take care of you," he promised. Josef scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the bathroom. Emma rested her head on his shoulder, wondering how she'd become so attached to a man who'd just drained her of some of her life's blood. It was all so impossible. So irresistible.

"You left," she pointed out quietly. His grip on her tightened just a fraction. Josef studied the neat bite mark on Emma's neck. No vampire would touch her and no human would please her. She had challenged his right to have her before. Now the mark on her neck branded her as his own. Of course, he couldn't tell Emma that. He adored her but he also knew how she would take that kind of news. Better to soften it.

"I won't leave again." Emma stared into his eyes. She wanted to believe him so badly. It would be nice to pretend she was the only one and that it could work between them. But he had a sleeping beauty who any minute might wake up. Whatever Josef felt for Emma probably couldn't compare to what he had with Sarah.

"Better take care of that bite before I bleed to death," she joked weakly, looking away from him. _"Vampires don't like to share."_ Neither did Emma.


	17. The Middle

Chapter Sixteen: The Middle

Emma crossed her arms over her chest, trying to resist the urge to poke around Mick's apartment while Beth talked to him. For some reason her reporter friend thought it was necessary to see the vampire P.I. about the bite on her neck. She put a hand over the band aid. Once the blood had stopped the wounds had appeared very neat and tiny but still hard to explain. Emma had slapped a band aid over them and gone to work. Unfortunately Beth came by for a pottery lesson. She knew exactly what Emma was hiding and had promptly dragged her off once the sun had set.

If she was honest, Emma could admit to feeling a little out of sorts. Weepy, angry, upset. Her symptoms were practically hormonal. She doubted that a tiny amount of blood loss could make her this loopy. Finally the reluctant Mick came out to give his diagnosis.

"You know, Beth, when I gave you my key it wasn't so you could sneak into the apartment to pester me for vampire knowledge," he pointed out lightly. Beth shrugged.

"You should have had that inscribed on the key, then." Mick looked toward Emma and immediately stopped in his tracks. Emma noticed that his nostrils flared like Josef's did when he smelled something odd.

"Emma, could I have permission to approach?" She raised a brow.

"Permission?"

"What Josef left on you is extremely strong and I'd feel more comfortable if I knew you didn't mind if I was near you," Mick explained cautiously. He could smell Josef on her but it was more powerful than that. It was like a metaphysical brand, warning off anyone capable of sensing it. A sort of 'touch and die' message.

"You can come near me," Emma grumbled, rolling her eyes. "And what, exactly, did Josef do?" Mick rolled his shoulders uneasily as he came nearer.

"Before I answer that, could you tell me under what circumstances he bit you?" She blushed.

"Is that really important?" Beth's eyes widened.

"Emma, were you two…?" She waggled her eyebrows and Emma's blush darkened.

"No, we were not! We started out arguing and then, I don't know, we weren't fighting any more." Emma reluctantly told Mick what had happened. For some reason he appeared much calmer now, as if he understood something.

"So he was feeling territorial. That explains the force warding me off."

"There's a what doing what?" Emma asked, eyes widening.

"The bite on your neck is giving off a very strong warning to any vampire able to smell it. Josef was probably feeling possessive when he bit you and that feeling was left over." Beth raised a brow.

"Did you do that to me, too?" Mick shifted awkwardly.

"No. I wasn't thinking about anything except survival at the time so I couldn't concentrate hard enough on leaving any other marks behind except the obvious ones." Emma held up her hand.

"Okay, just let me get this straight. Josef bit me and somehow left behind an invisible warning sign to keep other men away from me?"

"Other vampires. Normal human men wouldn't notice," Mick told her. She didn't look very comforted.

"So he feels threatened and decides to brand me because I go out with a friend. That's just brilliant." Beth rolled her eyes.

"Classic. Use anger as a defense mechanism." Mick took a step back. His heightened sense of survival told him to keep out of the potential cat fight.

"I'm not defending anything," Emma protested, looking at Beth with surprise and a linger sense of irritation directed towards Josef.

"You're just dying for a reason to get mad at Josef because you're hurt by the idea that he loves someone else," Beth said. She'd seen it happen when Emma had heard about Sarah. Her eyes had gone dark with unhappiness. It was obvious that she was searching for a way to keep Josef at a distance so that she wouldn't end up hurt.

"It has nothing to do with me if he loves some comatose woman or not!" Emma shouted, reacting as a wild animal would to a human trying to treat its wounds. Beth turned to Mick.

"You're his best friend. What do you say?" He paled, if that was even possible.

"I don't want to get in the middle," Mick said as he tried to take another step away. Beth took his arm and tugged him forward.

"Just tell her how Josef feels." The words left off of that sentence were 'or else'. He faced Emma who was glaring at the floor.

"He really does care for you," Mick said. Josef felt more than that but it was hardly his place to tell Emma for him. She let out a deep sigh, the anger fading as her shoulders slumped.

"That makes it so much worse." Emma pressed her hand tightly over the mark on her neck as if clinging to a memory. "He may care about me but it will never be enough."

"Enough for what?" Beth asked gently, sensing the weakness in Emma's armor. The artist shifted and turned her body away from them.

"Any day there could be some miraculous discovery to wake Sarah up," Emma responded quietly. "Then he'll be gone and I will know for certain that everything we shared was somehow lesser than what he had with her." Mick reached out tentatively to gently pat her shoulder.

"I think you're underestimating just how much he feels for you. Loving Sarah kept something open inside him. It left just one tender place in his heart. Maybe that weakness was supposed to be there so that he could see you as more than an amusement." Beth smiled at him fondly. Mick wasn't a poet by any stretch of the imagination but every now and again he knew exactly what to say.

"Besides, Sarah's lying on a bed in New York unconscious. You're standing right in front of him. That evens the odds just a little," Beth pointed out. Emma squeezed Mick's hand.

"Thanks. I just don't know if it's a good idea to get seriously involved." Beth bit her lip. How could she get Emma to let him in?

"It doesn't have to be serious," she said after a moment. "You have fun with him, don't you?"

"When he's not being arrogant or superior, yes," Emma said, nodding her head.

"And you want to try out the whole sex and vampires adventure?" At this she glanced at Mick with the barest touch of frustration. He rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Well, it's tempting," Emma said, missing the silent exchange between the two of them.

"Then just relax," Beth told her. "Go with the flow." Emma was silent for a moment before nodding.

"You're right. If I relax then he can't work me up as easily." She smiled at them both. "Thanks again, you guys. This has been helpful." Beth and Mick watched her leave.

"She's taken our advice the wrong way, hasn't she?" Mick asked, sliding his hands into his jean pockets. Beth sighed.

"Deliberately misinterpreted it as a way to keep Josef at an emotional distance," she agreed. She glanced at him. "We've both ended up in the middle of this. How did that happen?" He shrugged, a slow smile curving his lips.

"I'm not sure but at least we're in it together." Beth smirked.

"Well, the apartment's empty. Just you and me. Alone." He raised a brow as she approached him.

"Are you suggesting that we do something that requires privacy?"

"Maybe just a little," she replied, tilting her head back and looking up into his eyes. "What do you think?" Mick stared at her, sorely tempted. For a moment he was sure he'd tell her she should go. Then he thought that if Josef could get involved with a human then why not him?

"Not a bad idea," he murmured, tugging her gently into his arms. "Not a bad idea at all."


	18. The Difference

Chapter Seventeen: The Difference

Emma threw yet another crumpled piece of paper at the wall. It was hopeless. There was some sort of block, keeping the images that usually flowed out of her head from coming. Of course it was impossible to force. She'd been trying to do that for half an hour and all she had was a pile of wasted paper, not to mention charcoal smeared all over her fingers.

Saturday night had been mellow so far. It was just her, the apartment and a muse who wasn't talking. Emma started drawing simple lines in the hope that giving herself a base might inspire some kind of idea. After a few minutes she managed to focus, eyes intent on the page. She missed the sound of the door opening and closing with only a whisper of noise, the brush of leather shoes against carpet and the easy glide of silk against skin. It was only when Josef set his hands on her shoulders that she knew she wasn't alone.

"Christ!" she shouted, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"I enjoy hearing your heart race," Josef replied. He gently peeled the band aid off her skin so he could see the mark he'd left on her. "Although I suppose there are other ways."

"We don't need to experiment," Emma said quickly, covering her neck with her hand. "The blood bank is closed." He smirked.

"Just as well. I need you at full strength for tonight." Josef turned away and walked towards her closet. She frowned when he left her line of sight.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, setting down the piece of charcoal on her desk. When he didn't answer immediately she got up and went to investigate. The walk-in closet was too large for one person, in her opinion. Most of the clothes in there weren't even hers. She saw him searching through a rack of said clothes and her frown deepened. "I really hope you're looking for yourself and not for me." He sent her a wry stare.

"I'm not sure they'd flatter my figure." Josef pulled out a black dress with a v-neck and strips of cloth forming the skirt. "Mind putting that on, Emma? We're late as it is." She barely caught the dress in her arms as he waltzed past her and out of the closet.

"L-late? What do you mean we're late? Late for what?" He poked his head back in.

"Do hurry up, sweetheart. We're burning moonlight." She crossed her arms and glared, refusing to move. Apparently he'd been expecting this reaction because he had a quick response. "Unless you'd like me to help you get undressed." He raked his eyes over her body. "Actually, that might be more fun."

"Out! Out of the closet right now!" He laughed, ducking out. Emma muttered angrily under her breath as she changed. Obviously wherever he was dragging her it was going to be formal. She'd need to fix her hair, put on make-up, the works. Maybe his decorative toys could be glamorous in ten seconds but she needed a little more prep work.

Josef paced in her living room, occasionally glancing at his watch. He hadn't been joking when he said they were late. Of course then they'd been stylishly late. Now they were just late. Still, it was hard to be late to this kind of party. He glanced up and caught sight of Emma's long, shapely legs. That dress showed them off beautifully as each movement displayed a different strip of delectable flesh. He raised his eyes to her face. Her lips were full and lush; her eyes were smoky. Josef had seen the various ways make-up could be applied but he found that Emma wore it differently. She hadn't created a new face. She'd highlighted the angles that the eye could miss.

He opened his mouth but, at a loss for words, simply let out a soft growl. Her eyes widened. "I can't tell whether that's hostile or not." Josef stepped toward her and bit her playfully on the shoulder. She swatted his arm. "I'm onto you. All that dramatic vampire stuff is mostly just to mess with my head."

"Guilty as charged," Josef agreed. He tucked a strand of hair that had escaped from her chignon behind her ear. "You surprise me with just how lovely you can be." Emma avoided his eyes and blushed.

"I thought we were late."

"We are." Josef held out his arm. "May I escort you, Miss Bradford?" She remembered her original perception of him as aristocratic. Perhaps she hadn't been far off the mark.

"I don't think I have much choice, Mr. Konstantin."

Later on, Emma was thinking that the Lamborghini wasn't a bad place to be. In fact it was starting to resemble a sanctuary from what Josef was taking her to face. "All right, so it's a kind of vampire community get-together?"

"It's not really a community," Josef said. "This is just one of the things older vampires do to keep track of who's alive and who isn't." Emma grimaced.

"Well, that's friendly." She stared out the window. They'd left the city and taken roads along the sea cliffs. The moon was full. Its light glimmered on the black ocean. "Are they more like Mick or like you?"

"Very few vampires are like Mick. Not all of us mourn our immortality," he told her, glancing at her. The moonlight on her face made him want to turn the car around and spend the evening making love to her. However, his appearance at this event was necessary or the other vampires might believe his territory could be moved on.

"Don't you ever get bored?" she asked. "Or did you ever wonder what you might look like at thirty or forty if you'd aged?"

"I didn't need to wonder. I could see it happen to humans for centuries." Then he smirked. "And there are ways to avoid boredom."

"Oh, yes, the perfect stick women who serve as snacks," Emma muttered, staring resolutely out the window.

"They're more like accessories than people," Josef pointed out, once again trying to explain his freshies. "They maintain my image and provide me with a constant source of blood."

"Why not buy packets of blood like Mick and Ellen?" Personally, she thought that made more sense. There was less risk of one of the airheads blabbing if they weren't employed at all.

"That's like trying to live on vitamins and water," Josef said, the look of disgust plain on his face. "You can survive but existence is hardly worthwhile." Emma frowned. Was live blood really that good? It was unlikely she'd ever have the opportunity to find out so she'd have to take his word for it.

"Is that the place?" she asked as they rounded another bend and a large beach house appeared on the horizon. He eyed the opulence that was apparent even from a distance and smirked.

"That would be it. Margaret never really did learn the art of subtlety." Emma turned her eyes on him.

"And you did?" He pressed a hand to his heart.

"You wound me," Josef said flatly. Emma snickered.

"You'll survive. Who is Margaret, by the way?"

"She is a very old vampire although no one knows exactly how old. Women hide their age even when they look twenty."

"Well, it's our right," Emma said, glancing away awkwardly. She knew she didn't look twenty but she didn't mind stretching the truth about her age. Thirty was a big milestone that she wasn't entirely comfortable with yet. "Is she older than you?"

"Definitely," Josef told her. "At least by a hundred years." She whistled.

"Wow. So what does she do?"

"She's what you would call a citizen of the world. Margaret never stays in one place too long. She gets bored easily."

"That's understandable," Emma said lightly. The house continued to grow larger as they drew closer and she felt her panic level rise accordingly. Why on earth was she going to a party? She didn't belong there. She belonged at a bar somewhere in tatty jeans being hit on by overweight men named Bob.

"Calm down," Josef said as he parked the car. She blinked and stared at him.

"How did you know…? Oh, let me guess. You can smell fear." At his nod she glowered at him. "So everyone there will know I'm freaking out."

"The humans won't." He got out of the car, came around the side and opened her door for her. Emma looked up at Josef nervously.

"Why are you bringing me?" she asked softly. "I'm not exactly glamorous party material." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the mark on her neck. He could hear her heart begin to race and the hot, sharp scent of desire filled his nose.

"I want you here," he murmured. The blood rushed to her face, turning it a charming shade of red.

"I guess that's reason enough for you." Emma tried to remember what Beth had talked about. She just needed to go with the flow and relax. Taking things this seriously made her heart ache in an intensely painful way.

"It usually is," Josef agreed. He took her hand and led her inside. Already he could smell the other vampires. The scent of decay and blood was unmistakable. Margaret believed in space so her entire house was made up of pillars, windows and the occasional curtain to make one believe there were separate rooms. Soft classical music filled the house. Margaret mentioned having met Mozart more than once and her taste in music was faithful to that era. The elder vampire was there in a flash of movement that even he had trouble seeing.

"Josef Konstantin," she said, her smile wide and bright. "Eighty years have passed and not a single word from you. I should be insulted." She didn't look insulted. Emma thought she looked elegant, welcoming and beautiful. She also thought that Josef had been with her at some point. There was a vibe between that spoke of a comfortable knowledge of what each one looked like naked. It made her teeth clench before she ordered herself to relax.

"I don't think anyone could manage to insult you, Margaret," he said, taking the hand she offered and kissing it. Her wide blue eyes fell on Emma. "This is Emmaline Bradford. Emma, this is Margaret."

"No last name?" Emma asked.

"They get to be a bit cumbersome after a long period of time," she told her with a light, charming laugh. "She's lovely, Josef. Different for you." Margaret nodded her approval to him. Emma's first instinct was to point out she was still in the room. Somehow she restrained her cutting sarcasm in front of the ancient vampire. It might have had something to do with the fear that someone was going to eat her in a bad way.

"Thank you," Josef murmured. Most vampires saw humans as food or entertainment. Margaret's compliment was said in the same voice a human might use to say that a friend's new car was impressive. It had never bothered him before. Now, however, he wanted to say something far less peaceful than 'thank you'. Loving a human and being a vampire was a very tricky thing.

"Enjoy yourselves," Margaret told them, leaving them to their own devices.

"Well, she was stunning," Emma said, although she sounded more annoyed than stunned. "I'm sure you two are going to want to reminisce about the past." He lifted a brow questioningly.

"Reminisce? Ah, you think we're going to find a dark corner and compare dental work." Josef displayed his teeth in a wide grin. She rolled her eyes.

"You have a history with her. Vampires probably have flings all the time just to break up the monotony." It was true but the fact that she was applying it to him still burned.

"And what would you do while I was so occupied?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said innocently. "Maybe catch a ride with someone else." His eyes flashed white for a moment before he got control of his unreasoning jealousy.

"None of the vampires would do it."

"Because you put a 'do not touch' sign on my neck? Yeah, I talked to Mick," she said at his surprised expression. "I can always take off the heels and walk. It'd take a while but eventually I can hire a cab."

"Well," Josef said slowly, studying her casual demeanor. There was something a little too removed about her attitude. It was like she was creating a distance between them. That wouldn't do at all. "I'll have to give you a reason to stick around."

He moved frighteningly fast which, of course, threw her completely off balance. Emma realized he'd literally picked her up and moved her behind one of the curtains pretending to be a room.

"Josef," she said, beginning to sense what he was up to. Emma made to push him away but she couldn't move nearly as fast. He caught her lips in a kiss, pressing her flush against him. Her head started spinning and she clung to his shoulders. This was what had been missing in Brandon's kiss. The burning need Josef could make her feel every time he touched her was impossible to replicate with someone else. Emma's mouth opened willingly for him and his expertise.

That wasn't the only thing missing with Brandon, though. She didn't love him like she loved… Her eyes snapped open. Oh, no. No, no, _no_. That couldn't have happened to her. She couldn't have possibly been that stupid. Josef pulled back slightly.

"You're anxious," he murmured. "What's wrong?" Emma cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Maybe when we're in a room that isn't packed with vampires who can smell and hear everything we're doing I'll relax a little," she replied. It was a damned fine lie. Josef clearly believed it. "Look, I'm going to get some air. Why don't you mingle with your undead friends?" Emma left before he could get a word in edgewise.

It was surprisingly easy to move through a room of people as if she was invisible. Probably had to do with the fact that she didn't matter in this world. Emma stepped out onto the balcony and found a nice corner where she could stare out at the ocean and think in peace.

A very long time ago she'd asked her mother how she'd known when she had fallen in love with her father. Marina Bradford hadn't answered immediately. She seemed to be trying to remember because at that point loving her husband had become painful. _"I knew I loved him because I wanted to share my life with him, to grow old with him." _Emma closed her eyes tightly as she fought the tears that wanted to fall. Josef wouldn't grow old with her. He would watch as she gradually decayed.

The night felt cold on her exposed skin and she trembled. Standing out there on that house built on a cliff over looking the ocean, Emma felt that she could say almost anything. The words would simply be swept away on the wind as if they'd never existed.

"I love him."


	19. The Assistance

Chapter Eighteen: The Assistance

Beth opened her door to a seriously bedraggled Emma. She held a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and an envelope in the other. "Hi, Beth," she said. "Can I come in?" Beth hadn't detected any alcohol on her friend's breath and the bottle was unopened. Hopefully her unkempt state wasn't the result of drinking earlier in the day.

"Sure." She stepped back and let Emma slowly meander into her apartment.

"Nice place," Emma said while looking around at Beth's comfortable living quarters. "This is what I would have liked in a home. Warm colors, furniture that doesn't intimidate me, the kinds of things that make a living space so much nicer."

"Thanks," she said slowly, a little uncertain as to why Emma was rambling. Then a thought occurred to her. "Is this about what happened the other night?" Emma snickered.

"No, no, I'm not here about that particular disaster." She grimaced briefly as she thought about the vampire party Josef had dragged her to. After she'd brooded on the balcony for a while she'd had to go in and actually meet people. Most of them looked at her like a piece of meat. That hadn't particularly pleased Josef and he'd gotten into it with one of the men there. When the started throwing each other at stone pillars Emma had exited. Margaret had been kind enough to provide her with a ride. _"Don't worry, dear. Sometimes men just have to hit each other to send a message. I won't let it get too serious." _Emma ignored Josef's calls yesterday and had been ignoring them that day as well. Then the card had arrived.

"What is that, exactly?" Beth asked, gesturing to the envelope. Emma looked down at the seemingly innocent bit of paper and glared.

"Blast from the past," she muttered. "You can read it if you want." Beth accepted it and gently took out the card.

"Happy Birthday," she read. Her eyes widened. "It's your birthday?"

"No. Well, it will be in about five hours or so." Emma sank into the couch and uncapped the Jack Daniels. "I'm going to be thirty. Whoo."

"Oh," Beth said, comprehension sinking in. "So that's what's got you down."

"That's a chunk of it. The other chunk is who the card is from." Beth opened it up and frowned.

"It's from your dad? I thought you guys didn't speak."

"We don't," Emma said flatly. "I live my life and he leaves me alone. That's how it's supposed to be."

"Maybe it's a peace offering?" Beth suggested. Emma's expression darkened.

"I don't want any peace offerings from that unfeeling bastard." She took a swig from the bottle and nearly choked on the burn. At least it took the edge off her temper. "And I'm in love with Josef." Beth's jaw dropped.

"You… what?" Emma smirked.

"That was my reaction, too."

"Have you told him this?" she asked. Emma snorted.

"Of course not. He'd probably use that as an excuse to move me in with him or something. Josef's a control freak." She sighed deeply. "And I find myself disturbed by the fact that some part of me thinks that's endearing."

"I guess you're not one of those people who likes being in love," Beth commented, reaching for the bottle and helping herself to a sip.

"God, no. It's all-consuming and devastating. I've also fallen in love with a vampire. That makes this situation about ten times worse." Beth frowned slightly.

"What's so wrong with loving a vampire?"

"Just hold on. I've got a list," Emma said, sitting up a little straighter. "They drink blood and if they're drinking from you one day they might lose control and kill you. You can't have children with them because obviously they aren't producing live sperm anymore. You can't wake up beside them every day because they sleep in a freezer. You can't grow old with them because they don't age. If they spend too much time with you in the sunlight then they die."

"Okay, I get the picture," Beth muttered. Emma's list didn't make her feel very good. In fact, she felt depressed now that she thought about her relationship with Mick in those terms. No children, no growing old together, possible accidental death. They weren't great selling points. "Have you thought about being turned?"

"I don't have any desire to live forever and switch to a liquid diet," Emma replied. Besides, becoming a vampire would increase the chance that Emma would be alive when Sarah woke up. If Josef ever ran to his true love's side, Emma would rather be dead when it happened.

"There are some perks to being a vampire, you know. They have heightened senses, increased strength and that really nice lack of aging."

"I don't see how being able to throw a car at someone and look twenty-seven while doing it is much of a perk," Emma said dryly. Beth was about to reply when a strange gleam appeared in her eyes. She bit her lip thoughtfully as she studied her almost despondent friend.

"What if you could try out what the good parts of being a vampire?" Beth asked. Emma raised a brow.

"Excuse me?"

"A while back there was this drug being sold called black crystal," she began to explain. "It wasn't your typical drug. A vampire called Lola was making it out of other vampires. I acquired some of it when I was investigating a story and I tried some. Honestly, it was the most intense experience of my life."

"And you have some left," Emma finished for her. Beth nodded. "This may sound strange to you but I've never done drugs before."

"It's not really a normal drug. I tried it once and I didn't die and I wasn't addicted. The overdoses were caused by overusing the drug." Emma stared intently at her fingers. What would it be like?

"Let's say, hypothetically, that we were to do this. How would it work?"

An hour after their hypothetical discussion, Josef was staring at a rubbish hand of cards. This had not been a good night for him. He was distracted and edgy. At least Mick was the only one there to see him this way. He would have a harder time explaining it to any of his other vampire associates.

"I can't believe you picked a fight with another vamp over a little bit of ogling," Mick said, shaking his head at Josef. He scowled.

"He was staring at her legs like he owned them."

"And you do?" he asked pointedly. Josef shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Usually poker night at his office wasn't this secluded or awkward. Somehow Emma was changing every aspect of his life, even the ones she wasn't involved in. "You'll just have to grovel when she finally decides to listen. Beg her forgiveness for acting like a Neanderthal, etcetera. Emma's not completely unreasonable. Give her some time to cool down and she will."

"It's the groveling I have an issue with," Josef muttered. Mick grinned.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved with someone who had an independent streak as wide as your own. Then you could have avoided all this."

"Then it wouldn't be Emma," he pointed out and then winced. Sentences like that reeked of affection. He had a hard time controlling them when Emma was around. Mick and Josef stiffened at the same time, both catching the scent of their women. "Did you ask Beth to come over here?"

"No," Mick said, frowning. "I just told her where I would be in case she needed to reach me."

"Very domestic," Josef noted. "So why would she bring Emma?" Mick was about to respond when their keen ears heard the sharp click of heels against tile. They both stood up although that might have been a mistake since the feeling nearly went out of Mick's knees when he saw Beth. The short blue dress hugged her curves, blonde wavy hair fell over her shoulders and there was a look in her eyes that might incapacitate a lesser man.

"Hey, Mick." She walked towards him and something about the way she moved tugged at his memory. This situation was very familiar. "Emma and I thought we'd surprise you. Are you surprised?"

"Uh… yeah. What - ?" His words were cut off when Beth pulled him into a kiss. Mick wasn't the only one dealing with a surprise. Josef watched silently as Emma moved across the room toward him. She was wearing a very dark red dress that only reached mid-thigh. Her small breasts didn't seem nearly as small beneath the fabric, probably due to a flattering bra. Josef kept control of his expression as he looked over her loose, flowing hair and seductive face. He could smell something in her system that didn't belong there. A trace of silver…

"How was your day?" she asked softly. Emma slid her hands up his tie and slowly loosened it. Josef had to clear his throat before speaking.

"Fairly normal up until this point." He watched as his tie fluttered to the ground and her slim fingers began to unbutton his shirt. "What are you up to, exactly?" Emma looked up at him through her eyelashes in a way that was almost sinfully female.

"I would have thought that was obvious."

"Under most circumstances, it would be," Josef agreed quietly, a little too fascinated by the woman peeling his shirt off his skin. When she reached for his belt sanity returned and he gripped her hand. "However, this isn't your ordinary situation. What have you been up to, Emma?" She didn't answer, just nuzzled against his chest. A low growl worked its way out of his throat.

"I love that sound," she murmured. Emma began to lay kisses on his chest, her hand flexing a little to test his grip. He still managed to keep his grip on her firm but Josef's focus was beginning to slide. "It makes me feel like I can do things to you that people don't talk about outside the bedroom without blushing."

"Emma," he groaned, tangling his fingers in her hair and fitting his mouth to hers. He fed there almost as he had once fed at her neck, trying to absorb all the flavor he could. Josef gently touched the mark he'd left on her skin then let his hand move down her back and undo her zipper.

"Josef, they've taken that drug." Mick's voice was oddly distorted, partly because Josef wasn't listening and partly because Mick was fighting off a very strong urge to take Beth under Josef's table. "Josef, focus!" The older vampire let out a quiet snarl, determined to ignore that annoying sound. He left her dress in a crumpled heap on the floor and backed Emma against his desk.

"Josef," she whimpered as he ran his hands across her skin. "Josef, I lo - "

"It's black crystal, Josef. They're not thinking straight." Unfortunately, he heard Mick clearly that time. With a frustrated groan he gathered Emma tightly against his chest to keep her from moving.

"All right," he muttered. "I'm listening to reason." Mick relaxed. That wasn't smart since Beth managed to wriggle a hand loose and slip it into a delicate place. He stiffened, fighting back a groan.

"I'd… I'd better get her into a cold shower." Slowly and with no little difficulty he managed to get Beth out of Josef's office and on her way to sobriety. Emma's tongue flicked against his skin and he shut his eyes tightly. He wanted to wrap her legs around his waist and pretend she wanted him not because she was under the influence but because she truly desired him. Unfortunately, Emma would probably kill him once she was back to her old, sane self.

"Come on," Josef said, picking her up off the floor. "I think we both need a cold shower." Emma gave him a look that nearly brought him to his knees.

"I can think of things I'd rather be doing." He sighed deeply.

"So can I, Emma. Believe me, so can I."


	20. The Day After

Chapter Nineteen: The Day After

Marina Bradford had been beautiful, smart and a brilliant mother. What she hadn't been was independent. She enjoyed taking care of people. In a way, she was dependent on it. Being a good wife and mother made her feel useful. She'd given up girlhood dreams of becoming a dancer for the life Michael had offered her. In loving him, she'd lost a little part of herself.

For most of her life, Emma had been reckless. She was wild, unruly and sometimes a little dumb. Taking falls out of trees and having flings with art students were just some of her stupid achievements. After all, she'd grown up with everything she would ever need. The issue of money never troubled her. If she wanted something, they could get it. Emma had therefore been desperate for ways to entertain herself.

Four years ago her mother died. Emma had been twenty-six and more than a tad useless. She'd been out of college for two years and the most she'd accomplished was a few bowls and dreams of one day becoming a real artist. Unbeknownst to her, she'd been following in her mother's footsteps exactly. If things had been different she probably would have married well and raised her own children. It didn't happen that way.

She had found her mother lying on her bathroom floor, dark eyes completely empty of the warmth they'd always held. Everything changed. Emma had called the emergency numbers, answered every question put to her carefully and concisely. Marina was declared dead and taken away. Once the house was empty she curled up in the bathtub, quietly sobbing. Gone were the days when she sought comfort or someone to make her world all right. She was done.

Emma stared down at the carpet she could see from her curled up position on the couch in Josef's office. She was wearing his shirt, her slightly damp hair clinging gently to her cheeks. Emma sighed quietly and let her head rest on her knees. Maybe it had been the panic of turning thirty that made her want to be stupid one last time. Although with Josef she'd been stupid multiple times in the last month. She gradually closed her eyes, seeking answers in the darkness.

It was probably because she hadn't wanted the responsibility. When she finally slept with Josef, and it definitely would happen, it would alter her entire world. Emma didn't know how to be in a real relationship. She'd never seen one work. So maybe she'd hoped that if she were on black crystal when it happened, she'd be able to enjoy the experience without paying the inevitable price. That was so stupid and immature. A wry smile curled her lips. Maybe she wasn't that old after all.

She slowly got off the couch and made her way toward the window. The sun had risen about half an hour ago. Josef would probably be in his freezer a while longer. Emma could slip away, avoid his calls and just pretend it never happened. Instead she leaned against his desk and continued to stare out at the view. There was a deep, tired feeling in her soul. Tired of running, of fighting. Tired of being alone.

In the early morning light, she admitted a few things to herself. Emma was more like her father than she wanted to recognize. She had an iron will, pride and when she set her mind to something she did it. Losing her mother, painful or not, had made her that way. The second thing she needed to own up to was the fact that her heart was just as loving as her mother's had been, loving and determined to love Josef. Fighting that wasn't going to get her anywhere. So she'd tell him.

"Josef, I love you," she murmured, testing the words on her tongue.

"That was a better good morning than I'd expected." Emma nearly tripped on her own feet she spun around so fast. Josef stared straight into her eyes, searching them for a moment. She was completely incapable of speech. She had inadvertently cracked open her heart for him to inspect. What did a woman do in situations such as these?

Damned if she knew.

"I didn't think you'd be up this early," she said, taking deep breaths so she didn't hyperventilate.

"I'm glad I was." Josef had only been asleep for a few hours. His office was fitted out for occasions such as last night with a freezer and a few extra clothes. He occasionally slept there, losing himself in work and business. Once Emma had fallen asleep Josef had wanted a long, cold rest. He hadn't gotten it. Instead he was awake early enough to hear her quiet confession. "Care to say it to my face this time?" She wrapped her arms around her stomach as she tried to hold herself up.

"Josef," she whispered, heart trembling in fear and hope. "I love you." Somehow just saying it made her feel less tense.

"Good." Emma frowned slightly.

"Good? That's it?" He walked towards her with that old, arrogant smirk on his face.

"Perhaps that wasn't the best adjective. Fantastic would be better." He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. "Amazing." Josef looked into her eyes. "I love you." She didn't get a chance to form a response, not that she would have been able. He kissed her softly and curled a lock of her dark hair around his finger. "Now," he murmured after her brain had turned to mush. "Tell me what last night was about."

"Last night? Oh. That." Emma rested her head on his shoulder, surprised at how well they fit. "It was sort of like a last hoorah. I'm thirty today."

"Are you indeed?" Josef smiled, letting his hands roam down her body. "We'll have to celebrate appropriately, then." Emma's first impulse was to withdraw. She wanted to go back to her protected world and to rebuild her shields. It was too late, though. She loved him, she'd told him. It was time to actually live her life instead of burying herself in her art and her business.

"That's definitely the best proposition I've had all week," she told him, rising up slightly to kiss him. Josef took possession of her mouth and gave her a much more intense birthday kiss.

Hours later Emma stared up at the ceiling of her apartment while Josef committed every detail of her body to memory. Out of all her birthdays, this definitely ranked in the top five. Oh, who was she kidding? It was number one.

"That freckle is very well-placed," Josef noted, gently tapping the dark spot directly between her navel and her hip.

"Okay, now I know you're distracting yourself," Emma said as she propped herself up on her elbows. "You haven't fed all day." He quirked a brow.

"Are you offering?"

"Maybe," she murmured, blushing slightly. "It's just that it would be hard to explain yet another mysterious wound on my neck." Josef smirked.

"I don't have to take from your neck." He moved lower down her body. "Or your wrist." Emma gulped. There was only one other major artery she could think of and he was heading straight for it. A moment later her eyes rolled backward in her head as her fingers tightened on the sheets.

"Christ," she whispered, muscles low in her stomach growing hot and tight. She didn't mind losing some blood. The trade-off was more than worth it. Another hour passed before she could think coherently again.

Josef tended to her thigh, halting the bleeding. He dropped a kiss on the skin just above the bite. Emma knew she had a stupid smile on her face. Copious amounts of sex with a vampire apparently had that effect on her. "I'm glad I fell in love with you before we did this."

"Why?" he asked curiously, sliding a hand up to her hip.

"Because I would never know whether I loved you for you or your skills in bed," she explained. "Four hundred years have made you more than proficient, just in case you didn't know." Emma hooked her arms around his chest and hauled him up beside her so she could cuddle against his chest. "How long do you think I'm going to smell like you?"

"Forever if I have anything to do with it," he muttered. She poked him in the ribs and rolled her eyes. "It'll take more than a shower, if you know what I mean."

"Well, you'll probably brag to Mick anyway and Ellen is too shy to be judgmental," Emma said reasonably. "Is there anything else I should know about sex with vampires aside from likely blood loss?"

"Well, it's always better if you do it more than once a day," Josef told her, running his fingers through her hair.

"Is that so?" she murmured.

"That's so," he whispered in her ear.

"We've done it more than once unless I started hallucinating at some point." Josef chuckled.

"You poor humans are so fragile." Emma pressed a hand to his chest, raising an imperious brow.

"Fragile? Oh, I'll show you fragile."

And she did.


	21. The Interference

Chapter Twenty: The Interference

"Brandon, over there," Sheryl said, pointing to the entrance of the club. Emma was pushing her way through the crush of people. Brandon smiled and went to greet her. 

"Took long enough." She smiled apologetically.

"Sorry I'm so late." The two of them made it through the crowd and back to Sheryl's table. "I got a bit caught up," she explained. Sheryl noticed the blush coloring Emma's cheeks and raised a brow. 

"Oh, really? What exactly were you caught up in?" Emma looked away from Brandon, realizing that this wasn't just going to affect her. It would probably hurt her friend. 

"I was, um, caught up in a new relationship, actually," Emma mumbled, staring intently at the table. Sheryl glanced at Brandon.

"How about you go get us some drinks, honey? Emma and I need to have some girl talk." He left reluctantly. He was extremely perturbed by the fact that Emma was seeing another man. After all, if she stayed single there was still a slight chance that they might actually get together some day. It was a tiny hope but he was clinging to it. 

"Tell me everything," Sheryl said, leaning in to her across the table. "I want every juicy detail you can muster." 

"Do you remember that guy I told you about? Josef?"

"The rich and annoying one?" Sheryl asked, eyes widening with surprise. "I thought you hated him."

"Not exactly," Emma mumbled. 

"So you were with him? That's why you were late for your own birthday party?" 

"Yeah, I was definitely with him," she said. An hour ago she'd looked at the clock on her bedside table and realized that her friends were waiting. Getting Josef to stop trying to seduce her back into bed had been a trial but eventually she'd pulled on her clothes and run out the door. 

"So how was he?" Sheryl asked with a mischievous grin. 

"I'm only going to say that it was a wonderful way to spend my thirtieth birthday," Emma said, relaxing a little as she thought about Josef's hands on her skin. 

"Warning, a man is about to intrude on this sacred female conference," Brandon joked, approaching the table. He gave Sheryl a strawberry daiquiri and Emma took the glass of Chardonnay. 

"How about a toast?" Sheryl suggested. 

"Good idea," Brandon agreed, raising his glass. "To Emma. May she have many more birthdays after this one."

"And may Sheryl change her mind about moving so she can celebrate them with me here," Emma put in, poking her friend's leg with her foot. Sheryl took a sip of her daiquiri. 

"I need to leave, Emma," she said quietly. "I… just need somewhere fresh. You understand, right?" Emma nodded and squeezed her hand. 

"Are you okay?"

"I'm better. It helps to know Ellen didn't kill him. She really did love my brother." She smiled at Emma. "Thanks for giving her my job. I think it's good for her to do something during the day instead of remembering what she's lost." Emma just nodded. She was slowly beginning to realize that her life had split into two parts. One half was vampires and the other half was made up of people she had to lie to. 

"So who's the lucky guy you got so caught up with today?" Brandon asked, changing the subject. 

"Josef Konstantin," Sheryl told him. "The man with the very large… ego." Emma rolled her eyes while Brandon frowned.

"You mean that big business guy? I thought you hated men like that."

"Typically I do," Emma said. "I just didn't manage to hate him." Suddenly, Sheryl started giggling.

"Oh my God, you're in love with him." Emma's eyes widened. 

"How did you know?"

"It's obvious," she said, trying to control her laughter. "Oh, wow, Emma Bradford in love. Now that's not something I saw coming." She scowled. 

"I'm not incapable of it, you know."

"I know, I know! It's just that you were always so cynical. 'Love is for people willing to get their hearts ripped to pieces'," Sheryl quoted. 

"Which I still think is true," Emma put in, taking a sip of wine. "I'm a cynic in love." She started giggling. "Okay, now I get the joke." The two women laughed together while Brandon just frowned at them. 

"How long have you known him?"

"About a month," Emma said. That made her pause. It really hadn't been a very long time at all. Still, they'd been through a lot. She pushed him into a pool, her house burned down and he risked his life to save her and anytime they fought they usually ended up making out on whatever flat surface was at hand. 

"And you're already in love? How much do you know about him?"

"A surprising amount." Probably more than most humans knew. Brandon didn't look convinced. 

"Okay, where did he grow up?" 

"That isn't really one of the crucial questions that define a relationship," Sheryl pointed out when she saw Emma struggling for an answer. Honestly, she was a little pissed about Brandon being so negative. Sure, he adored Emma but Sheryl was really pleased to see her best friend happy with a man for once. If Brandon screwed it up by making Emma doubt what she was feeling, Sheryl would come after him with a pair of very large scissors. 

"Fine," Brandon said. "How about his favorite things?"

"Anything expensive," Emma responded. That much she was sure of. He sighed.

"And this is the guy you're in love with?"

"There's more to it than that!" she protested, feeling personally affronted. 

"Then explain it to me because I just can't see it." 

"He's sarcastic and confident and extremely frustrating. Josef gets under my skin like no one else does. When I see him I want to touch him, be near him."

"But why?" Brandon asked. "Seriously, I want to know." Emma looked away from him. She realized she couldn't say why. There wasn't any logical reason to it. _I knew I loved him because I wanted to share my life with him, to grow old with him._ That was what she wanted. That was what she couldn't have. 

"I need to leave," she murmured, getting out of her chair. 

"Oh, Emma, don't go," Sheryl pleaded as she reached for her arm. "Brandon's just being an idiot." 

"Why am I an idiot for wanting to know why she's in love with this multi-millionaire?" he demanded. Emma didn't wait for them to stop bickering. She ran. 


	22. The Facts

Chapter Twenty-One: The Facts

"I still think this is a bad idea," Beth said as she, Emma and Ellen stepped out of the elevator. Emma walked resolutely to Mick's door. 

"I know you do. We're still doing it." 

"Why couldn't we call him and ask to come over again?" Ellen asked softly. She felt a little nervous intruding on another vampire's territory. 

"This is an ambush," Emma pointed out while Beth got out her key. "You don't call to let someone know you're ambushing them. You just do." 

"Great theory except we don't know if he's even in," Beth said as she pushed open the door. Emma shrugged. 

"We can always wait. What else have you got planned for tonight?" Beth sighed. She knew she didn't have much of a life outside of work and vampires. She should probably get one. Then Emma wouldn't be able to rope her into crazy fact-finding expeditions. 

After a minute of calling Mick's name, it was easy to see he wasn't at home. Emma had actually been hoping for that. After she'd left her disastrous birthday party, she'd started thinking. It was odd how easily and quickly she'd fallen for Josef. It was also odd that a man with dozens of beautiful girls around him would want to bother himself with a woman who had brushed him off. In fact, their entire relationship was beginning to bother her. He'd pursued her for no real reason. Sure, there was the boredom factor. But why her? 

Emma walked into Mick's office and immediately went for the files. She didn't know what she was looking for. She just had this hunch. 

"I doubt Mick keeps files on his best friend," Beth pointed out. That had been the excuse Emma had used. She wanted to know more about Josef. Who better to ask than Mick? Truthfully, she did want to know about Josef. He was extremely closed-mouthed about his past. Of course, she hadn't exactly shared a lot, either. "Why don't you just ask Josef what you want to know?"

"He won't tell me," Emma muttered. She went to the file cabinet labeled with the current year. Mick's alphabetical system made it easy to find what she'd been hoping she wouldn't. "Beth, why did you introduce me to Josef?" she asked softly. Beth's eyes widened. She hadn't been expecting that question. 

"Sorry?" Emma slowly turned around, a thick file in her hand. 

"Why did you introduce me to Josef?" 

"He found out I knew you," Beth confessed reluctantly. "He wanted to know you, too." Emma didn't respond. Instead she sat down at Mick's desk and opened the file. Pictures were at the top of the stack of papers. Pictures of her. Family photos. Her skin went even colder. 

"Her heart has slowed down," Ellen whispered softly in Beth's ear. She didn't know what was happening to her friend but what she sensed wasn't good. It felt almost like the shock she'd been in when her house had burned down. 

Emma read about her life. Her birth date, where she'd gone to school, the broken bone she'd had once, college recommendation letters. It was as if someone had compiled her existence and put it in a folder. And given it to a stranger. 

"Did he say why?" Beth nearly shivered. There was something absent in Emma's voice. Almost like an emptiness. 

"Not really," she replied. It was true. They'd never told her exactly why Josef wanted to know Emma. Beth had thought maybe it was idle curiosity. Vampires didn't have a shortage of time and could easily indulge in whatever methods they wanted to make their lives more interesting. "What's in that file?" 

"Me." Emma held up a slip of paper. The handwriting was familiar to Beth but she wasn't sure where she'd seen it before. "Information about me, given to Josef and then to Mick. It's from my father." Her breath caught in her throat. The birthday card, the writing on it, that's where she'd seen that slanted writing. 

"But… why?"

"Business," Emma replied shortly. She stood up and let the paper drop onto the desk. "It always comes down to business." Without another word she left the office. 

"Emma, wait! What are you going to do?" Beth asked, Ellen close on her heels. Emma didn't answer. It was almost like she couldn't hear them anymore. There was an intense focus in her eyes. Ellen recognized it. It was the look of a wounded predator that was planning on destroying what wounded it. 

An hour later Emma walked towards a large, glamorous house with a view of the ocean. It hadn't changed during the years she'd been away. The ghosts were still there. Flashes of her mother laughing, crying and slowly dying haunted Emma. She knocked on the front door. 

She knew the tall, slightly gray-haired bodyguard who opened the door. Ralph Hamilton had been with her father for ten years. On her twenty-first birthday he'd given her a bottle of champagne and a bottle of Advil with a note saying, 'Good luck'. 

"Emma?" He was more than surprised to see her there. She smiled faintly.

"Hey, Ralph. Is my dad home? I need to talk to him." 

"Sure, kiddo. He's in the office." Ralph stepped back to let her inside. She looked around the entrance hall. It was exactly the same. The large pot Emma had made for Mother's Day was sitting on a pedestal. She touched it gently, remembering how long she'd worked on it, the tiny details painted on the clay surface almost giving her headaches. 

"I know he probably saw me on the surveillance camera," she murmured. "He's probably waiting to hear why I've come to visit. Right, dad?" Emma looked towards the archway. She heard a mirthless chuckle and then Michael Bradford stepped into the room. Her father was only a few inches taller than she was, his eyes a lighter shade of green and his hair a dark brown color. He didn't look any different, either. Maybe her old life had simply frozen when she'd left it and was waiting for her to come back so it could go on. 

"Hello, Emmaline."

"Ralph, could I get a moment alone with my dad?" she asked quietly. He nodded. 

"Sure." He began to walk past her.

"Oh, and I'm sorry." Emma smashed the pot over his head then ripped the gun out of the holster attached to his belt. She cocked it, aiming straight for her father's heart as she stalked towards him. His face had gone pale and he backed up until there was nowhere left to go. "You worthless son of a bitch," she hissed. 

"Emmaline, please," he whispered, eyes wide with fear. 

"Don't you dare!" she shrieked. "Don't you dare ask me for mercy. I should fucking shoot you in the heart and have the bullet tear it to shreds like you did to my mother. But you were crueler than that. You didn't shoot her. You destroyed her with neglect and indifference. And now you're trying to squeeze back into my life using Josef Konstantin. Why the fuck shouldn't I shoot you?" He couldn't answer, couldn't think of a reason. He just stared at the daughter he'd tried to drag back under his control who was now pointing a loaded gun at his chest. 

"Emmaline," he breathed weakly. Emma wanted to pull the trigger. She wanted to kill him and then be dragged off to jail where she'd never have to see Josef again. She wanted to bury herself in some dark prison cell and forget forever what she'd felt for him. She wanted to forget that every time he'd touched her he'd been lying. 

"I loved him. I really loved him." Tears began to stream down her face. She backed away from her father and fell to her knees. Emma wrapped her arms around herself, holding in the shattered remains of her heart. "Why did you have to pick the one man I would fall in love with?" Michael wasn't sure what to do. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch her hair. Emma reared back and slammed her fist into his face. She pulled herself up, trying to ignore the shaking in her legs. "Interfere in my life again and I'll kill you." She left her father on the floor, blood seeping out of his nose. Now there was only one thing left to do. 

Emma packed her things quickly. The faster she moved, the easier it was to keep herself from crying. She reached under the bed and pulled out the wooden box she'd rescued from her house. Emma stared at it for a moment before coming to a decision. She pushed back the lid, searching through the contents. There were pictures of her mother as a young woman dancing, in her wedding dress, holding a newborn Emma. Her original wedding ring was there, the one she'd had before her husband had grown rich and important. When they'd loved each other. Finally, Emma pulled out two sheets of paper. It was the last conversation she'd had with her mother. She stuffed the box into her bag then slung it over her shoulder. Without glancing back she dropped the papers on the floor for Josef to find then walked out the door. 

She was done.


	23. The Pain

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Pain

Ellen tried not to cringe when Josef stormed into the café. She was Emma's friend but he was a four hundred year old vampire she couldn't afford to piss off by withholding information. 

"Where is it?" he growled. She quickly handed him the note she'd found on the counter that morning. Emma must have been here before she pulled her disappearing act. It said that Ellen was supposed to man the fort while she was away and to send any orders to a phone number Ellen hadn't recognized. Josef frowned at the paper, lifted it closer to his face and sniffed. "This is at least five hours old. She couldn't have gone far." He raised his eyes to hers. She did her best not to shiver. The rage flowing off of him was potent. "Whose number is this?"

"I don't know. It's not one I've seen before," she replied. 

"Well, there's an easy way to fix that," Josef said. He handed her the note. "Call." Mick walked in at the same time Ellen was waiting for someone to pick up the phone. He raised a questioning brow at Josef who just shrugged impatiently. 

"Answering machine," Ellen mumbled. Then her eyes narrowed with confusion. "Brandon Keats? Who's he?" Josef knew. With a brief snarl he vanished out the door. Mick wasn't far behind and he hopped into Josef's car before he could speed away.

"I can do this alone," Josef said, turning the keys in the ignition. 

"Sure you can," Mick agreed. "I'm just here to make sure you don't kill anyone while you do." The other vampire didn't respond. When Mick had found Emma's file open on his desk and an infuriated Beth waiting for him in his office, he'd immediately called Josef to let him know that the cat was out of the bag. Josef had then gone to Emma's apartment only to find that she'd vanished. All she'd left behind were two sheets of paper he hadn't yet stopped to read. They'd smelled too old to be current, therefore useless in his quest to find her. 

At first he'd wanted to talk to Emma. He knew she would be furious with him, that she'd see it as a betrayal. Maybe it was. Still, he'd been sure that with a few explanations and a lot of begging she would see reason. Then he hadn't been able to find her. He could still taste a hint of her blood in his mouth and smell the fragrance of her body on his skin. The fact that she had removed herself from his reach was unacceptable to say the least. The vampire in him had reacted badly. "How do you know where this Brandon guy lives?" Mick asked, interrupting his best friend's brooding. 

"I looked into his background when I saw him with Emma," Josef answered shortly. He'd wanted to know exactly who Brandon was. Apparently the human was the only thing keeping Josef from Emma. He smiled cruelly. The man was going to regret challenging him. 

"You can't kill him, you know." Josef glanced at his friend.

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't exactly put you on Emma's good side," Mick pointed out. Josef grunted. 

"She wouldn't have to know." 

"Wasn't it the lying that got you into trouble in the first place?" he asked. Josef remained silent. Mick sighed. "You've got to calm down before you do something you'll regret." 

"Believe me, what I'm thinking about doing I wouldn't regret," Josef said, teeth clenched. "You think you know what I'm feeling because of the threads of connection you had to Beth when she had a boyfriend. You hadn't claimed her the way I have Emma."

"Explain it to me, then." Maybe talking would help Josef get the murderous rage out of his system. 

"I don't think your virtuous ears could take it," Josef muttered while he turned a corner. Brandon's house came into view and he felt fangs cutting into his lip. "I want to rip this mortal open and watch him die slowly."

"Try to resist the urge." The two vampires left the car and walked up the steps to the cozy family home. Obviously Brandon wasn't planning on being a bachelor all his life. Mick put a restraining hand on his friend's arm, keeping him from simply breaking into the house. He rang the bell. Five minutes later Brandon opened the door, looking like he hadn't slept much the night before. The second he glimpsed Josef he tried to slam the door in their faces. Sadly for him, Mick was faster. "Hold on, Mr. Keats. We just need to ask you a few questions." 

"I'm not answering any of them," Brandon said, pushing against the door but unable to make the other man budge. Josef took a deep breath and the faint scent of citrus and clay filled his lungs. Emma had been here. That was the only excuse he needed to nearly rip the door off its hinges as he stormed past Brandon. 

"Where did she go?" The human only showed a flicker of fear in the face of Josef's palpable rage. Mick respected his decision to protect Emma no matter what. However, his stubbornness might end up getting him killed. 

"Is she at least still in the country?" Mick asked. Brandon still didn't respond but the vampire spotted the tiny shift in his weight, the flickering of his eyelids. Emma was still in California. Mick was sure of it. 

"I'm not telling you guys anything," Brandon said defiantly. "Now get out before I call the police." Oh, that wasn't smart. Threatening Josef in this mood was tantamount to suicide. He slammed the human into a nearby wall, gripping his throat tightly. Every instinct screamed for him to show his fangs and frighten the information out of the pathetic mortal. 

"Where is she?" he growled. Mick would have interfered in Brandon's murder if he hadn't spotted something more interesting. A notepad lay open on the coffee table in Mr. Keats's living room, a Sharpie beside it. Apparently that had been the only pen nearby when Brandon wrote whatever it was he had written. Half of the page had been ripped away. Luckily for Mick, Sharpies bleed through paper like blood through clothing. 

"Josef!" Mick shouted, picking up the notepad. He turned around to see Josef all but snarling in Brandon's blue-tinged face. The man was probably going to suffocate if the vampire didn't take his hand off his windpipe. "Josef, I think I found her." Brandon hit the floor as Josef released him and moved at top speed to Mick's side. "This place is on the beach, probably two hours away with no traffic." 

"Good." Josef moved in a blur of color back to the car. 

"Josef, wait a damn second." Mick gripped his friend's arm, having barely kept up with his pace. "You haven't fed today. You should at least do that before you run off to confront Emma and probably get in a fight with her." 

"Mick," Josef said slowly. "I'm not sure you're grasping the real significance of this situation. In essence, my mate is gone. I can't see her, touch her or hear her. There's barely a hint of her scent on the breeze. If I don't get to Emma soon, I'm going to go completely mad." He stared up into Mick's eyes and the younger vampire could see it. There was a frenzy just behind the forced calm, a trembling tenseness in his muscles as if he was preparing to bolt. "The last thing we need is an ancient feral vampire loose in Los Angeles." Without another word he turned the keys in the ignition and sped off. 

Emma was ignoring the early morning sun. She hadn't slept all night. Her hands trembled as she pulled a nightshirt over her head. They had been shaking for over an hour. Actually, all of her had been shaking. When she'd arrived at what Brandon affectionately called his retreat house, there hadn't been anything left to concentrate on. She stopped running and the emotions caught up to her. 

To keep from breaking down in the middle of the floor again, Emma went over the details of the tiny beach cottage. It was smack in between two large, elegant homes that Brandon had mentioned were trying to buy his little piece of land. He wasn't selling. The outwardly crumbling house appealed to his sense of humor. Inside it was small but comfortably furnished. One bedroom, one kitchen, one bathroom. All the space one really needed. 

Emma closed the blinds then crawled into the double bed that didn't really fit in the small room. This was definitely a place for sleeping and retreating. Funnily enough, that was exactly what she needed. Emma pressed her face against the pillow and closed her eyes. Almost immediately she could see Josef's eyes staring into her, hands reaching out for her. Her eyes snapped open. The shaking in her hands had worsened dramatically. It was ridiculous, almost like she was withdrawing from a drug instead of a man. She tried humming softly and stretched so that her muscles would relax. 

Eventually the exhaustion won out over grief. Emma fell asleep, releasing the torments of her subconscious mind. At age five Emma had run away to a bush in her yard. She decided she was going to live in that bush for the rest of her life. No one screamed at each other in the bush and every now and again little flowers would bloom all over it. That was a good place to live. She returned to that bush in her dreams except she was grown up and the bush was on fire. Her mother's face was reflected in the licks of flame. She shouted out to her but there wasn't any answer. Emma fell to the ground, pressing her knees tight to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself. Lies ate away at her life until there was nothing left but tears and the ashes of what had once been. 

There was a loud banging, something she couldn't quite trace. Then it stopped. Nothing in her dream had changed so Emma dismissed it. A man breathed into her ear, "_Emma._" No, not a man. A monster. Her monster. 

"Josef," she murmured. Gradually he uncurled her body, running his fingertips gently over her skin. The shaking in her hands had stopped although she didn't notice it. Emma sank her now steady fingers into his hair as his mouth moved against hers. The fire in her dream began to ease, smoke thick in the air. Strangely, it didn't smell like smoke. It was Josef, warm and comforting against her skin. 

"Never break away from me again." Emma couldn't believer her ears. That voice sounded as if it was begging. Josef wouldn't beg. Would he? "Please." She didn't resist when he pulled off her nightshirt. The pleading stunned her to the core. Stunned her enough to clear her head. When he moved against her, she couldn't feel clothes, only bare skin. Even as her mind began to function her body refused to be denied and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. Josef's fangs sank into her neck. Reality blurred, pleasure and pain close companions. 

By the time her head made sense of it all, her thoroughly sated body was being cradled in his arms. She felt a little light-headed and weak. Being a blood donor two days in a row probably did that to a person. 

"You hurt me," she said quietly. His grip on her tightened just a bit. 

"You'll be all right. All you need is food and some rest." Emma shook her head.

"That isn't what I meant." Josef looked down into her drowsy eyes and saw the aching pain. It struck him hard. 

"I didn't intend to," he told her. "Besides, you hurt me as well." Emma remembered how badly her hands had shaken during her time away from him when she'd had no intention of seeing Josef again. Maybe she hadn't been wrong when she thought it was more like withdrawal than a separation. 

"Once I can think and move again, we need to talk." Josef nodded.

"We certainly do." 


	24. The Trust

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Trust

"You shouldn't be moving so much." Emma glanced at her vampire lover. He'd managed to repair the door he'd broken down and find his pants faster than she thought he would. Then again, she was still thinking in human terms of speed. Obviously the normal rules didn't apply anymore. She pulled the egg carton out of the refrigerator while adapting to the new facts of life, proud of the steady feeling in her legs. It was true that she wasn't 100 percent healthy yet but food would help. 

"I need to eat, remember?" Emma poked around in the cupboards until she found a skillet. Josef frowned. Her heart beat was steady but the predator in him could sense the weakness. 

"I could cook," he offered. She snorted.

"I didn't survive being a vampire snack just so I could die of food poisoning." Emma waved a hand at him. "Stop hovering and sit down. You can explain to me why leaving felt like giving up a drug addiction while I cook." Josef did as she asked. He would be fast enough to catch her if she fell anyway. 

"Occasionally vampires bond closely to beings they find themselves in love with. You have to understand, Emma, I've been in you nearly every way a vampire can be."

"Nearly every way?" she asked, looking up at him. He raised his wrist. 

"My blood hasn't been inside you."

"I'd like to keep it that way if you don't mind," Emma said. The thought of drinking blood seriously messed with her appetite. Josef feeding from her was one thing. It was actually nice in a masochistic kind of way. "So we're bound together physically? Will we die if we're apart or something dramatic like that?" 

"No, you wouldn't die," Josef answered, watching her lithe hands crack the eggs. The skillet sizzled loudly in the silence. 

"I wouldn't die," she repeated. "Would you?" 

"Not from that." She glared at him, annoyed at his hedging. Josef sighed. "I would go mad and Mick would have to put me down." Emma didn't know what to say. The fact that she'd nearly caused him to suffer and die cut into her heart. She owed it to him to listen, no matter how he happened to have come into her life. 

"So we can't be away from each other now?" 

"We can but we should see each other on a regular basis." He glanced at her wryly. "Fleeing the area also wouldn't be wise." 

"It wasn't as if I knew what would happen," Emma pointed out, scowling. "I was hurt and I wanted some space. You neglected to tell me too much space would send me into withdrawal and drive you mad." 

"True," Josef admitted. "Now, why don't you tell me why you were so hurt?" She scooped the eggs out of the skillet and put them on her plate. Emma flipped off the stove, her breathing a little uneven. The tenseness in her shoulders made it clear to Josef just how unwilling she was to share this with him. 

"Did you read what I left for you in the apartment?" she asked. Then she rolled her eyes. "Oh, wait, stupid question. You were a little busy trying not to go crazy. Do you have it with you?" He nodded.

"In my jacket pocket." 

"You should go get that," Emma told him quietly. "It was the last conversation I had with my mother. Might illuminate a few things for you." She sat down at the kitchen counter and dug into her eggs. Almost immediately she felt a little better, less like she would keel over at any second. Emma glanced up to see Josef leaning against the refrigerator. His eyes were quickly going over the words she'd written four years ago. 

Marina Bradford had been crying when she dialed her daughter's phone number. She'd been trying to get a divorce since Emma had graduated from college. Michael blocked her every move. Now, to control her, he was threatening to cut off his own daughter and leave her to flounder in the real world on her own. Of course, Emma's mother hadn't told her that. She found out later when she'd accidentally stumbled upon the drafts of paperwork required to put that into effect. They'd probably been made to scare Marina into submission. 

It hadn't been a very long talk. At that point Emma didn't know what a monster her father was. She didn't understand why her mother wanted a divorce or why she seemed to be so torn up about not getting one. 

_"Maybe it's for the best,"_ she'd said. _"You and dad have been married a long time. You should work it out."_

_"Oh, Emma, this stopped being a marriage long ago,"_ Marina had said quietly, just a hint of an accent in her voice. For a long time they'd remained silent and listened to each other breathe. _"No matter what, remember that I love you. Goodbye, princess."_ Josef looked up at her. The words he read gave him a clue but not the entire puzzle. She sighed, setting down her fork. "My mother overdosed on sleeping pills after that. It was the only way she could find that would keep me safe and get her out of that marriage." Emma smiled mirthlessly. "I didn't feel very protected." 

"And I bargained with the man who stole your mother's life," Josef murmured, staring down at the pages. "I'm surprised you didn't stake me." 

"The fact that I put your life in danger has made me a little more reasonable about the whole thing but not much." Emma studied the face that had become so familiar to her. She loved him but her trust had been so battered and bruised she wasn't sure how to function anymore. "When did it stop being a business deal?"

"After you danced with me," Josef replied, setting down the papers. He came around the counter and sat beside Emma. "I came to you to close a deal. I wanted you because you could surprise me, make me feel almost alive." He lifted her hand and gently kissed her palm. "Then I loved you." 

"Why?" she asked weakly, remembering Brandon's insistent questions. Questions she couldn't answer. Josef lifted a brow. 

"Why? You might as well ask why you draw breath or how I exist. It simply is." 

"Oh," she whispered. That was it. That was it exactly. She loved him because he was Josef and she was Emma and that was simply how it had to be. And, remarkably, she trusted it. Trusted him. "Could you cancel the deal with my father?" 

"Done," Josef responded quickly. "I could have him killed, if you want." A smile flickered over her mouth. 

"Tempting. Maybe financial ruin instead." 

"Your wish is my command," he told her, reaching up to push a strand of hair behind her ear. "After all, I'll be making this up to you for at least twenty years." Emma did her best to maintain the smile as the light in her eyes died. 

Twenty years. She would be fifty years old in twenty years. She would be grayer, slower and saggy. Sarah would be young, beautiful and forever perfect. Jealousy stabbed into Emma. For a moment she truly hated the vampire she had never met. "What is it now?" Josef asked, recognizing the shift in her mood. 

"Beth told me about Sarah," Emma informed him. There was little point in denying it. At some point they'd need to discuss the fact that he had another woman waiting in a comatose state. The little color in Josef's face drained away. "I just need to know if I should automatically step aside when Sarah wakes up." He blinked rapidly.

"Wakes up?"

"She'll wake up eventually. There'll be some miracle of science and then you two can finally be together." Emma looked away from him. "I want to know what happens to me then." Josef couldn't respond for a long time. Emma stayed silent as she waited to hear just how uncertain their life together would be. 

"I'm a different person than I was then," he began, gently stroking the back of her hand. "She was twenty-one and innocent. I wanted that. Over three hundred fifty years had passed and I'd become jaded. She was my hope for something better." Josef looked into Emma's eyes. "You cut through me, paralyze me like a stake to the heart. With you I don't want to be better or worse than I am. I just want to see you smile at me." He cleared his throat and glanced away. "I'd also really appreciate it if you never relayed this conversation to Mick because he would never let me live it down." Emma started to laugh. It was the perfect way to break the spell he'd woven over her. Josef hadn't turned into Romeo after all. 

"Don't worry. I'll take all this information with me to the grave." The happiness flickered again and Josef frowned. 

"What is it now?"

"I was thinking that in a few years, we should talk about immortality," Emma said. She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "And about whether or not it would suit me." 

Meanwhile, Brandon was studying the vivid bruise on his throat. Josef had definitely left a mark. He'd tried calling Emma but she hadn't picked up. Whatever that meant, he couldn't predict. All he knew was that Emma had gotten involved with some kind of monster. She wasn't safe. He picked up his car keys with every intention of driving out and seeing what he could do to help her. The woman standing in front of his door halted his progress. 

"Hello, Brandon." Her voice sent a chill down his spine. It was soft but also old, reminding him of battle fields and the corruption of court politics from days long past. The light blue of her eyes pierced him, giving the impression that they could read every thought running through his head. She had a smooth face although her hair was silver and brushed just above the tops of her shoulders. Her white slacks and blouse made her pale skin look even more translucent. 

"How do you know who I am?" he asked, fighting the instinct screaming at him to run away. "And what are you doing in my house?" 

"Don't worry, Brandon. I'm not interested in killing you." She glided past him into the living room. "On the contrary, I find myself in need of your help." He frowned.

"Why would you need my help? Who are you, anyway?" 

"Call me Naomi," she told him, taking a seat on his brown leather couch. Brandon cautiously sat across from her in an arm chair. She smiled at him gently. "Relax, boy." 

"What do you want from me?" he asked, eyes narrowing at the word 'boy'. 

"Your assistance in a rather delicate matter," she replied. "It involves a Josef Konstantin. I see the name is familiar to you." His face had reddened with anger at the mention of Josef's name. "You have every reason to dislike him, Brandon. He truly is _monstrous_. I've been watching him for some time and I know enough to bring him down. The trouble is that I can't with Emma Bradford in the way."

"Emma?" Brandon asked. He was more than a little confused now. "What does she have to do with this?" 

"Oh, she's caused me some trouble," Naomi said, her smile turning slightly vicious before she forced herself to relax. "That's beside the point. The point is, Brandon, what do you want?" He blinked.

"What?" 

"I asked you what you want," she said. "Tell me if you want Josef running wild and using your friend, your love. Or would you prefer it if she was safely out of his reach?"

"I want her safe, obviously," Brandon snapped. Naomi grinned.

"Are you willing to pay the price?"

"What kind of price?" he asked cautiously. She shook her head, her smile becoming chastising. 

"Now, now, Brandon, I don't play like that. Either you are willing to pay the price I demand or you are not. Either you want your Emma safe and happily away from Josef or you do not. Take your pick." He hesitated. Time and time again he'd heard precautionary tales of people who had promised to give up some treasure that they could never afford. And it was rarely money. Still, what other choice did he have?

"I'll pay," he agreed. For a moment it seemed her eyes glowed. Then she blinked and they were once again a harmless blue. 

"Good." Naomi stood up and walked to the door. "I'll call you when I need you."

"Wait!" Brandon demanded as his eyes widened with uncertainty and a healthy dose of fear. "How do I know you'll do what you said you'd do?" She glanced back at him and her smile was neither comforting nor warm.

"Trust me."


	25. The Shift

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Shift

Emma sat outside Josef's home up in the hills, enjoying the full moon's light bathing the world and turning it bluish silver. Beth and Ellen were with her and obviously relieved. None of them had been sure how she'd cope with the news of Josef's betrayal. Since she'd moved in with him and was helping him host a small get together with their friends, it appeared Emma had dealt with it rather easily. 

"To friends," she said, raising her glass of red wine. Ellen had a red liquid in her glass, too, but it certainly wasn't wine. "Mortal and immortal alike."

"Here, here," Beth said, clinking her glass against Emma's and Ellen's. A slight pang of guilt made Emma's smile fade. She hadn't invited all her mortal friends. It pained her to think they just didn't fit in her life anymore. At least she and Sheryl could keep up an e-mail relationship after she moved. As for Brandon, he was probably out of her life for good. He hadn't called to check up on her or popped up at the shop for a surprise visit. Obviously he wasn't dealing with rejection very well. 

"I wonder what Mick and Josef are talking about," Ellen murmured, glancing through the glass doors to the two vampires deep in conversation. 

"Probably that weird murder down at the docks," Beth said. The other women turned to look at her strangely. "What? I'm a reporter. It's my job to know these things." Emma smirked.

"Okay, then, start reporting. What happened?" 

"Eyewitnesses say that a group of about six women pursued one lone woman into an alley. Then no one knows for sure what happened. Someone passing by about ten minutes later noticed a body on the ground. The rest of them had vanished."

"How did she die?" Ellen asked softly.

"That's the weird part. Apparently her heart just stopped beating." Emma raised a brow. 

"It stopped? There wasn't any cause?"

"Not that anyone's been able to find so far." Beth shrugged. "Mick's looking into it because it falls in the category of strange and unusual."

"But it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with vampires?" 

"You never know," Beth said, taking a sip of her wine. "Although it was probably occult related. The victim had a pentagram tattoo on her upper right arm."

"Was she a Wiccan?" Emma inquired. Beth raised a brow. 

"What?"

"Oh, come on. In your line of work you've never heard the term before?" At Beth's blank expression Emma sighed. "It's a religion that practices witchcraft."

"Uh, Emma –" Ellen began to warn her friend but was cut off. 

"Witchcraft?" Emma squeaked, pressing a hand to her heart. She glared over her shoulder at Josef. 

"You'd better watch yourself. I'm seriously considering having a bell surgically attached to your throat." He smiled briefly but obviously there was something more important at hand. Both he and Mick looked serious. 

"Why do you think the victim was a witch?" Mick asked. He had his detective face on, quiet and observant. 

"The tattoo points that direction, don't you think?" Emma looked between the two male vampires. "What aren't you guys telling us? Mick, don't you dare look at Josef for permission." Josef rolled his eyes and Mick looked guiltily away from his friend. 

"There have been some rumors circulating among the local vamps. Some strange activity, unusual smells but nothing really big. Now we have a dead witch." Beth stared at them in mild disbelief.

"So witches exist too? Wand-waving, spell-casting witches?" 

"Someone's been watching too much Harry Potter," Josef said, leaning casually against Emma's chair. 

"Technically, Beth is right. They do use wands and they do cast spells. It just isn't as fantastic as Hollywood would have you believe. Or as evil as the Catholic Church would have you believe, either. There are rules and a deep respect for the power they summon." It was Emma's turn to get a strange look from the group. 

"How do you know so much about all this?" Beth asked. 

"One of the women who take pottery lessons down at the café happens to be a Wiccan. We've talked about it a few times." Emma looked at Mick. "So we've got witches going wild in L.A.?" 

"It looks that way," he agreed. 

"Is it a problem that requires your immediate attention or can it wait?" 

"It can probably wait," Mick said, raising a brow. "Why?" Emma got to her feet and shook out the wrinkles in her dark purple skirt. 

"Because then we can talk about something slightly less macabre than dead witches lying in alleys." She smiled cheerfully. "Beth, there's a hole in your glass. I'll get some wine to fix it. Ellen, more blood for you?" Ellen nodded eagerly. "O positive, right? Josef, did you remember to put those labels on?" Josef cleared his throat, aware of the odd looks he was getting from the others.

"Done." 

"Good." Emma went into the house. Mick couldn't help but notice that there was something inherently comfortable in the way she walked, as if she belonged in this house and with these people. 

"Labels?" he asked, glancing at Josef who had grown noticeably awkward. 

"So she knows which blood type is which," he mumbled. "After all, she can't smell it and tell." Beth smiled. 

"That's very courteous of you, Josef." 

"Very domestic, too." In a weird way. "She seems to have settled in well," Mick noted with a grin. 

"Emma is very adaptable," Josef murmured, looking in the direction of the kitchen. "Or maybe the environment is. She's been here a week and just about everything has changed." 

"I noticed the lack of foliage," Mick said. "There was also a lot more color." 

"Apparently it makes the house warmer," Josef muttered. Then he sighed. "I've become one of those men who watch helplessly as their women reorganize their lives, haven't I?"

"Yep," Mick agreed. "The question is, are you happy?"

"As only an idiot can be." The look in Josef's eyes belied the sarcasm. He knew he wouldn't go back to how he'd been living before Emma had fallen into his life. This was better, somehow more real. 

Emma got out the small plate of appetizers. It was small because only two of them would be eating, anyway. Thankfully Emma hadn't had to go grocery shopping when she moved in. The freshies who lived there ate actual food and kept the kitchen well-stocked. Of course, most of them were now unemployed. Only three of the women had been retained for emergency purposes. With vampires, blood could be in demand at any time. At least they were the most intelligent so she could have real conversations with them. 

She uncorked another bottle of wine, humming to herself. The change in Josef's diet hadn't exactly been deliberate. He could sense the way she tensed any time his 'decorative toys' came near him and before she could say a word the majority got the boot and there was a significant increase of bagged blood in the refrigerator. Bagged blood that he'd labeled just as she'd asked. Emma reached for the O positive at the same time Josef wrapped his arms around her waist. "You make a beautiful hostess," he murmured against her neck. They'd gone a few rounds about that particular aspect of her place in his house. He said he had people who were paid to make things run smoothly and she said she wanted to know things weren't just up to random people whose names she didn't even know. 

"As long as I get the job done," Emma said. Josef stared morosely at her throat.

"I hate it when you wear turtlenecks."

"Well, something's got to keep you away from my neck," she told him, getting the O positive and shutting the fridge. "If you keep nibbling at me those marks are never going to heal."

"I can't help it if you're irresistible," Josef pointed out. She rolled her eyes, a motion which immediately stopped when he began to kiss her earlobe. Emma let out a quiet sigh. 

"We have guests," she reminded him weakly, arching back as he slid a hand under her sweater. 

"They can wait." Josef turned her around in his arms and pressed her against the refrigerator door, beginning to work his particular brand of magic on her mouth. 

"Wow," Beth said, a little surprised to see the two of them lip-locked. "So that's what was taking so long." Emma's face went bright red and she pushed Josef back a step. 

"See, this is why you don't keep guests waiting. Eventually they'll come looking for you." She picked up the bag of O positive that she'd dropped when she needed both of her hands to touch Josef. 

"I would have kept my guests waiting too," Beth admitted. "Sometimes it's worth it." 

"My thoughts exactly." Josef gently stroked Emma's hair. She looked up at him and Beth suddenly felt like an intruder in a 'happily ever after' ending. At least she had Mick, who was slowly getting over the idea of biting her during sex. That was a blessing. 

Two hours later, Emma's cell phone rang. Her eyes narrowed on it. That was only supposed to be used for emergencies. What was happening now? She picked it up and was surprised to hear Brandon's voice on the other side. 

"Emma, I'm sorry about calling so late but it's Sheryl. She came over to my house crying and nothing I say seems to help. Apparently she found some old photo albums with her brother's pictures and…"

"I understand," she said quickly. "I'll be there as fast as I can." Emma hung up then smiled guiltily. "I've got to go. A friend's having a crisis." Josef caught her arm as she headed for the garage. 

"I'd prefer it if you weren't near him." She rolled her eyes. 

"Honestly, Josef, I love you but sometimes you're a really possessive bastard." Emma gently kissed his cheek. "I'll be back before you know it." He tried to be reasonable about it. After all, she had a right to keep her friends and comfort them when necessary.

"Then hurry so you'll be back faster," he murmured, squeezing her hand. She took his advice and was off like a shot in one of the less conspicuous cars Josef owned. 

The traffic wasn't too bad. Emma hated driving at night. Lights would blur together and she couldn't be sure of what she was seeing. She glanced in her rearview mirror, frowning slightly. That white Porsche was following her rather closely. Any closer and it'd end up in her trunk. 

"If I'm not going fast enough for you then why don't you just go around me?" she muttered. Emma turned onto Brandon's street and another car smashed into hers. She got the vague impression of bright headlights right in her eyes before yet another blow hammered her car. The seatbelt she thought she'd put on was no longer there. Something else hit the car and her instincts were screaming that this wasn't natural, wasn't normal. Sounds and bright lights, flying and crashing through something hard. Her body hit the pavement with a loud, broken thud. Emma gulped in the air, the breath having been knocked out of her. 

"Ouch," someone murmured. "That must have hurt." Her vision was blurry but she could see the outline of a woman bending over her. The voice clucked disapprovingly. "And look at that head wound. Those do tend to bleed a lot, don't they?" 

"H-Help," Emma rasped, although the part of her that could still think clearly doubted this strange woman meant her any good. Indeed, at Emma's voice she began to laugh.

"Oh, I don't think so. Look at all this damage. Especially here." The woman picked up Emma's wrist and even with slightly blurred vision she could see what the problem was. A large chunk of her windshield had lodged itself in her wrist. Blood dripped down her arm, making her think of Josef. How much time did she have before she simply bled out? "I know what you're thinking," the woman said in a conversational tone. "Is that glass going to help you or kill you faster? I would say, judging by the angle, that your hand is going to be fine. You won't lose the feeling in it. Unfortunately, the blood from the rest of your body is going to empty itself out on to the concrete. Bad luck, Bradford. Very bad luck." The woman sat back and smiled at Emma's still body. "You're starting to feel it, aren't you? That numbness." She was right. The edge of the pain had faded, a soft gray enveloping her sight. What was it they said about pain? It let you know when you were alive. What would it mean when she stopped hurting but hadn't gotten help? 

"Emma!" She knew that voice. "Emma, oh my God!" Brandon hadn't seen the wreck but a few seconds ago he'd seen the smoldering wreck of a car and instinctively known his friend had been in it. He kneeled beside Emma. "Christ, Naomi, what did you do?" She raised a brow. 

"What did I do? Au contraire. You are the one who agreed to pay the price. You wanted her safe. Now, safe she will be." Brandon paled. 

"I didn't agree to this. I didn't want her dead!" 

"You never said that," Naomi pointed out. "Besides, you're overreacting. I never said her death would be the price. Perhaps it will be only that you must watch her suffer because of what you have done. Of course, that will depend." 

"On what?" Brandon asked. His eyes were as desperate as his voice. Naomi smirked. 

"On how quickly you call for help." She straightened and walked away from the frantic mortal who was clumsily getting out his cell phone, struggling to dial 911. Of course, little Emma wouldn't die. She was far too stubborn to let life slip away so easily. Also, Naomi was going to need her alive. A cruel smile curved her lips. 

There was no better way to make Josef suffer. 


	26. The Price

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Price

Ellen hated hospitals. She'd hated them when she was alive and she still hated them now that she no longer needed them. The places reeked of disease, pain and death. It didn't help that her friend was inside, either. She shifted, the uncomfortable seat digging into her skin. The chapel was the only quiet place to wait for news but it wasn't exactly cheerful. Jesus nailed to the cross was less than inspiring, no matter what her mother had believed.

"A coma," Beth murmured. "Did you see the look on Josef's face? He'd have been less horrified if someone had ripped his heart out." Ellen glanced at her mortal friend, happy that someone had decided to wait with her. Neither of them were much use at the moment anyway.

"At least they stopped the bleeding. She could wake up." Ellen had to believe that. It didn't matter if the doctors had no hope for that. Emma was too strong to let something silly like a coma keep her down. Perhaps it was foolish to think that way but what else did she have to cling to?

"No one even called Josef to let him know what had happened, he had to figure it out himself. Stupid Brandon Keats," Beth said, glaring at wooden pew in front of them as if it was to blame for all their trouble. She didn't like feeling helpless. There should be something useful for her to do to help but she couldn't think of a single thing.

"I'm sure he was just upset." Ellen didn't sound terribly convinced and she certainly didn't convince Beth. In her opinion, Brandon was a nasty little troublemaker. Emma wouldn't have gotten into an accident if he hadn't called her. She noticed Ellen staring over her shoulder. Beth glanced back. Her heart warmed at the sight of Mick staring down at her before his somber expression sank in.

"She isn't dead." He shook his head and the painful knot in Beth's stomach eased slightly.

"No, she isn't. The doctors are saying it's unlikely she'll recover because of the damage and blood loss. They're saying… Emma isn't going to wake up." Ellen let out a quiet sob. Beth hugged the grieving vampire, feeling almost numb.

"Are they absolutely sure?"

"Nothing's absolute," Mick said as he sat down beside her. "They just don't think that it's likely."

"Couldn't Josef turn her?" Beth asked, searching for any kind of solution. Ellen shook her head before Mick could answer.

"She wouldn't come out of the coma. She'd just be immortal and unconscious." Yet another comatose vampire to add to Josef's collection. It was a cold thought and Beth shoved it away as soon as it came into her head.

"How badly is Josef taking this?" Beth asked. Mick rubbed the bridge of his nose, something he did when he thought.

"He's quiet," he finally said, unable to think of any other word for it.

"Too quiet," Ellen murmured. The other vampire smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah, he's too quiet. The pain is there but he's holding it in as much as possible around me. I don't know how he's doing now."

Grief was a familiar emotion to Josef. He'd felt it numerous times during his long life. When he lost Sarah he'd naively thought that there was no way he could ever feel that kind of pain again, that nothing would compare. Of course, he had been wrong. Emma's shallow breaths, her painfully slow heartbeat, the lack of color in her face, were all infinitely worse. She wasn't waking up. The fact wouldn't sink in. It simply wouldn't. Emma could not be gone yet still there.

Josef sat next to her bed. It had taken a lot of convincing to let him into ICU, especially with Brandon speaking so harshly against him. If he had his way he wouldn't leave her side. He would wait until the hospital crumbled into dust to see Emma open her eyes again. It wasn't as if he didn't have the time.

"Emma," he whispered softly. There was no change. Her pulse didn't jump, her heart didn't race. She didn't smile at him or whisper anything back. Josef took her hand and pressed it tightly against his cheek. No change there, either. Emma was sleeping beauty who wouldn't wake up if he kissed her, no more than Sarah had.

Pain wasn't a stranger to Josef, either. He felt it, a small but vicious monster ripping up his insides. His fingers clung to her slender hand as his eyes squeezed tight against the sting of salt water that was desperate to fall. "Emma." He needed to hear her voice. Even if she was fighting with him, he wanted to hear her speak.

Still, he needed more than just that. He needed the flash of her eyes, the mischievous curve of her lips. Josef needed her alive and well. "Please," he begged, hoping that she could still hear him and realize he'd reached the end of his rope. "Please, wake up."

"I love the sound of desperation in the morning." Josef's head snapped up. The woman standing on the other side of Emma's bed wasn't human. However, she wasn't a vampire. He could smell something unnatural on her skin.

"What the fuck are you?" he snarled. Naomi smirked.

"You should be more polite to your last hope." She looked down at Emma and sighed. "Such a shame. She's very lovely, Josef." His heart was wounded and he felt more than a little defensive. Therefore, he lashed out.

"How the hell do you know my name?"

"I know a lot about you, Josef Konstantin." Naomi crossed her arms. "Or should I call you Charles? Well, there have been so many names I might as well stick to the most current one."

"Since you know all mine, why not give me yours?"

"Naomi," she told him. Her fingers brushed lightly across the set of fang marks on Emma's neck. "The doctors must have been quite puzzled about this. It's quite difficult to describe an alternate lifestyle of this sort, isn't it, Josef?"

"How is it you know so much about me?" he demanded, coming to his feet. She just laughed at his fury.

"I don't need to answer any of your questions, Josef. I'm beyond you. Not only that, you need me. Time to tone down the attitude." He continued to glare at her but he held back some of the acid replies he could have made.

"You say I need you. Why?"

"Your dear, sweet love is comatose with no hope of recovery. That is your situation in a nutshell, isn't it?" He nodded curtly, obviously displeased by the way she'd phrased it. "You're in need of something a little more effective than modern medicine, wouldn't you say?"

"Why don't you tell me exactly what it is you think I need?" Naomi turned away from him, shrugging out of her white coat. If they were going to get down to details then she would do it comfortably.

"Magic," she told him, sitting down on Emma's bed. Josef's eyes narrowed. He could remember the little that Emma had told him about magic and those who practiced it. For some reason he didn't think that Naomi fell under the category of respectful practitioner.

"Elaborate."

"All right, I'll be plain. I can wake up your Emma."

"Why don't I believe you're doing this out of the kindness of your heart?" Josef asked, eyes narrowed on her disturbingly light eyes. She smiled with no warmth.

"You aren't stupid. That's a pity but I'm sure I can work around it." Naomi stared down at Emma. The little twit had survived and was currently fighting strongly against the spell keeping her comatose. By rights she should have been in a coma simply because of the damage. It was annoying how good the human was at surviving. "What do you want, Josef?"

"I would have thought that was obvious," he pointed out.

"You'd be surprised by how things can be misinterpreted," Naomi replied sweetly. "Let me take a while guess about what you want specifically. You want Emma back on her feet and fit as a fiddle, correct?" At his terse nod, she smiled against without a hint of actual pleasure. "What would you be willing to pay for it?"

"Anything," Josef answered, not missing a beat. "Money doesn't matter to me."

"Nor to me," Naomi told him. She pushed a strand of silver hair behind her ear, the delicate flick of her fingers too calculated to be innocent. "My price always varies, depending on the situation. To alter fate, the universe needs a little payment in return. Something equal in value."

"Do you always toy with your customers, Naomi?" She smirked at his edgy tone of voice. She was making him nervous. Good.

"At our age, Josef, we learn to amuse ourselves any way we can." Josef raised a brow. Apparently she was older than she looked or smelled.

"What is the price?"

"Your agony," Naomi told him softly. She held out her hand to him. "Can you suffer for her, Josef? Truly?" He looked down at Emma, lying still as death on the hospital bed. There was only one choice.

Josef took Naomi's hand and agreed.


	27. Epilogue: The Loss

Epilogue: The Loss

_"You cut through me, paralyze me like a stake to the heart." _Her breathing quickened as she turned over, unconsciously clutching at the sheets. Music drifted across her mind. It was a song she knew. _I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you_.

_ "I'll have to give you a reason to stick around." He caught her lips in a kiss, pressing her flush against him. Her head started spinning and she clung to his shoulders. _Emma whimpered as a familiar fever began to work its way through her blood, heating her flesh. The touch of hands on her skin and gliding through her hair made her writhe beneath the sheets. Something cold slid down her spine, interrupting the other sensations, and she shivered.

_"Bad luck, Bradford."_ Emma jerked awake panting, her heart rate going haywire. She tried to keep a grip on the dream and remember the details. Already the words were slipping away from her like mist giving way to morning sunshine. She pressed a hand to her mouth, holding back the frustrated sob. Brandon hadn't stirred and he deserved at least one full night of sleep after all she'd put him through.

Emma quietly slipped out of bed and did her best to be silent as she pulled open the screen door in Brandon's room and stepped out onto the balcony. Since she woke up from the coma, she couldn't seem to sleep through a night without waking up shaking. The only place in her boyfriend's home that she felt comfortable thinking was out on the balcony. Cool air and a silent moon were all she wanted at times like this. In a few minutes her head would start hurting. Another one of her headaches, a constant element in her life after the head injury. Then she would lose every trace of the dream entirely. For some reason she didn't want to. It seemed important to remember exactly what she was dreaming about even if it made no sense.

The month or so before her accident was a complete blur. She couldn't remember any of it. Apparently Sheryl's brother had died and she had moved away after that. Strange that she didn't hear from her anymore. Ellen worked at the café although Emma wasn't sure why. The younger woman seemed very awkward around her. Maybe she was just worried that Emma would lapse back into a coma. Whatever it was, she really hoped Ellen would get over it because it was annoying to have someone tiptoeing on eggshells all the time.

Then there was Brandon. She'd forgotten the beginning of their relationship. That was viciously unfair to him and to her. One of the questions that plagued her most often was why she'd taken up with him. He'd been a friend, last she could recall. Now he was a lover. When had the change happened, exactly? For what reason?

Emma leaned against the railing as she stared out across the more or less silent city. There was something missing. She couldn't describe just what it was but she knew there was a gap in her life. Some crucial memory was gone and she didn't know if she would ever have it back. That was what she couldn't say to anyone. How could she explain the hole inside her chest where she was sure her heart was supposed to be? Emma had a loving boyfriend, good friends and a successful business. There shouldn't be a hole.

She rotated her wrist, glancing down at the jagged scar left over from the glass that had cut into her skin and nearly ended her life. It was a very vivid reminder of mortality. Emma let out a pent up breath. She needed to stop clinging to the past. There was nothing to keep her from living her life except some sense of emptiness which was probably just in her imagination. She intended to start really living again. As for the occasional voice inside her head, everyone had moments of insanity. That could be dealt with and she would learn how to do it. After all, what else was there to do? Wait for prince charming? She snorted. Brandon was a good man but he wasn't the type of guy who would make her swoon. Still, she was ready for a good life with a good man. That would be enough.

She'd make it enough.

Emma straightened up, intending to go back inside and forget all about the dreams haunting her. Instead she hesitated. She felt like someone was watching her. Since her eyes were only human, she couldn't see into the shadows which was really just as well. The security of her world would have been shattered and the high price Josef paid every single day would be for nothing.

He stared at her from out of the darkness, intent on absorbing each detail before she returned to her neatly constructed reality. She did not remember him. She didn't even know his name. Josef wanted to close his eyes but at the same time he couldn't. He needed to see her, to reassure the vampire inside that his mate was alive and well. Even if he couldn't touch her, couldn't disturb the fragile life magic and sacrifice had given her, he could look at her. It was all he had left.

Naomi, farther away and a great deal less miserable, smiled at the half moon. Her strategy had worked out very well. Before long Josef would be mad with the need to be with Emma again and be willing to pay any price. This time she could ask for what she really wanted without having to worry about the little brat poking her nose in and trying to protect her vampire lover. All those precious memories buried deep in her subconscious would surface in dreams she could never put her finger on. How terribly frustrating. Naomi chuckled softly to herself. There was really only one thing left to say.

"Checkmate."

End of Part One


End file.
